


Sunny Mornings, Fucked Up Noons, and Frozen Nights

by sketzocase



Series: Love comes in threes [2]
Category: Dark Wolverine (Comics), Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Wolverine (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Alien Races, Babies, Canon-Typical Violence, Cheyarafim, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Inhumans (Marvel), Kree (Marvel), Lovers quarrels, M/M, Morning Sickness, Multi, NEARLY the end of the world, Neyaphem, Past Child Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Phoenix (marvel), Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pregnancy, Resurrection, Sequel, The Raft Prison (Marvel), This gets a little crazy, Threesome - M/M/M, Unplanned Pregnancy, War, Weddings, all out mutant war, brood, for smut warnings- please read the 'notes' at the beginning of each chapter, lupine, please go with it, pregnant Laura, shi'ar, space adventures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-09 09:10:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 48,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16446962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sketzocase/pseuds/sketzocase
Summary: The boys have a really good thing going for them. And nothing- and I mean NOTHING can get in their way. Even an all-out mutant war for the very fate of the mutant race as they know it.





	1. A charity event, a boring opera, and tipping a valet

**Author's Note:**

> SOOOO. This is the sequel to 'A fuck up..' It takes place 2 months after the last chapter. The boys are a littttle more comfortable with each other. As a relationship tends to make people. 
> 
> There is also a lot of action in this. And a LOT of sex.  
> SO I will give warnings up here, like I always do. :D 
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> This one will be even more fun to write than the last one, so let's break straight into it!

“If he doesn’t hurry, we’ll be late.” Kitty growls, adjusting her strapless gown in a very ‘unladylike’ display.

“Yea well… you can’t rush him.” I hiss, checking to make sure my wallet is in my pocket.

“Oh, I can rush him- alright.” Kitty mumbles.

“Whose idea was this anyway?” I complain.

“It’s a charity dinner, Bobby. Johnny goes every year. He has to represent his team. ”

“So why are we going, again?”

I really intended to stay home and do lesson plans. Johnny said he didn’t mind.

“ _I’m_ going because it’s good publicity for the school. _You’re_ going because apparently, Daken has a magic dick that makes you do what he wants you to.”

That’s right. Daken asked a most... Unfortunate moment. And by that, I mean while I was screwing his brains out. He was breathless and flushed and stuffed. How could I say no?

That actually makes me chuckle. “You know you talk about my boyfriend’s dick a lot.”

“Only because I’ve seen it a lot.” She snaps. “Seriously. He sleeps with pants _on_ at the school- got it?”

“I’ll tell him… again.” I laugh. “But you’ve really got to stop phasing into my room unannounced.”

“Force of habit.” She mumbles before tapping the foot of her high heel on the bottom of the opera house stairs. “Where is he??”

“On his way, I’m sure,” I say. “Calm down.”

“Calm down my butt.” She growls. “If I had my way, I’d take all the tickets and leave him out here.”

“He’d just break in.” I laugh.

“Good. Then he can get arrested and learn the consequences of being perpetually late for everything.”

“Please stop fantasizing about my boyfriend being arrested.” I sigh.

“He drank all of my milk,” Kitty says like that explains everything.

“He likes almond milk!” I defend.

“But it was mine!”

“You didn’t have your name on it!”

She grumbles to herself just as Daken’s bright red car pulls up to the Valet. He gets out and hands the keys to the well-dressed man.

Speaking of well-dressed men…. Daken looks amazing.

He forwent dressing in a tux and instead did black pants and a long sleeved button up shirt. Purple really is a good look on him.

I actually stuck with the tux. I feel like a giant penguin.

I don’t know what Johnny’s wearing- I didn’t get to see him before we left… but I get the feeling it will slide to the ‘tux’ category.

He walks over to us with a smile. “Waiting long?”

“No.”

“Yes.” Kitty glares at me.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “Traffic was insane.”

“If you had left when we agreed to leave- it wouldn’t have been a problem,” Kitty growls.

“I’m so sorry Katherine,” Daken says, smirking. “But I was having an issue of my own.”

“Did anyone die?” She gasps in horror. “Please tell me you didn’t kill anyone.”

“Not that kind of issue.” He chuckles. “Laura threw up on me.”

Kitty goes to say something but stops. “Morning sickness?”

“She apparently smelled a pot of chili coming from the neighbor's apartment and it made her nauseous.”

“Poor girl.”

He nods. “I am very sure she’ll be happy when little Blob makes their appearance and she is no longer pregnant.”

He calls the baby ‘blob’. It’s adorable.

“Well… you could have a worse excuse.” She says crisply.

He nods. “Shall we?” He asks, motioning to the opera house.

“We shall,” she says, walking up with her head held high.

Daken grins and wraps his arm around my waist. “What’s her problem?”

I grin. “You don’t sleep with pants and you apparently drank all her milk.”

Daken laughs. “Of course I did.”

I lean over and peck his cheek. “Where have you been today?”

“With Laura and Gabby,” he says. “We were filling out her baby registry and Gabby went a little crazy with the scanner.”

“A little?” I laugh.

He nods. “She found an attractive employee and tried to scan him several times.”

“Oh, Gabby.” I chuckle.

“It took both Laura and me to wrestle the thing from her. She was going through the baby bottles and scanning them all individually.”

I shake my head. “That kid.”

He nods. “How’s Johnny doing?”

“Nervous,” I say. “He’s texted me fifteen times in the last thirty minutes.”

“He’ll do wonderfully,” Daken says with a smile.

“Keeping the FF in the limelight without the other two members is killing him,” I say quietly.

“I know,” Daken says. “But I got him something for after the presentation.”

“Oh?”

Daken grins. “Let’s join Katherine before she has us locked out.”

He takes my hand and starts to move us up the stairs.

“What did you get him?” I ask curiously.

“You’ll see,” he says with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Is it something we’ll both like?” I ask.

“If I tell you it won’t be a surprise.” He hums. “So just wait.”

“Why can’t you tell me now?” He stops walking and turns back with a grin.

“Aren’t we a curious thing today?”

I can’t help but smile. “Your surprises are… enjoyable. But take up a loooot of time.”

“Excuse me for wanting to give you a more... Pleasurable experience.”

AKA- he’s been introducing toys to our ‘relations’. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. The last one he got I couldn’t walk after I used it. Not in a bad way- but I was exhausted.

He’s a step in front of me. He leans down and kisses my forehead. “Wait.” He tells me. “It will be worth it, I promise.”

I inhale deeply. “Fine.”

He grins and pulls me up the stairs.

Kitty is waiting at the top, tapping her foot. “Will you hurry up? Honestly- Daken makes us late _everywhere_ we go.”

“Beauty like this takes time.” He grins. “As you should know.”

“Flattery gets you nowhere.” She says with a scowl.

“It’s not flattery if it’s true.”

She shakes her head. “Just hurry up. We don’t have time for the Daken show today.”

“Consider the show canceled.” He says pleasantly.

She continues to glare at him. “Why are you being so pleasant?” She asks.

He grins. “Because it annoys you so.”

She grouses under her breath as she leads us past the large frosted doors into the white stoned exterior building.

Inside the lobby, there is a ticket booth, a bar, and a large set of double stairs leading up to the balconies- which is where we’re seated. The ceilings of the opera house are large and traced with gold fixtures. Fancy. Fancier than where I would have gone, at any rate. Daken says this is actually his ‘preferred opera establishment’ I didn’t know there were enough around the city _to_ have a preferred one.

At the bottom of the stairs is a woman in a red suit taking tickets and directing foot traffic.

Kitty goes to the woman and hands her three tickets.

She had them because she insisted Daken would lose them. (or sell them- but I know he wouldn’t do that so it’s a moot point. After the Remus thing- He is in no way short on cash.)

The woman at the bottom of the stairs smiles pleasantly and tells her what seats to go to.

Kitty thanks her in a manner that’s much different than what she was speaking in a moment ago.

Now she’s ‘representing’ the school and has to be pleasant to everyone- which I know she’s going to bitch about later. Since I started dating my boyfriend(s) she seems to be a little on the snippy side of things. Her voicing her ‘disapproval’ while respecting my decision- which I asked her to do so it’s not even really worth complaining. I’m sure if she gives it more time, she’ll come around to actually liking the idea.

My ‘love life’ is a little taboo for her. I know that. It’s taboo for everyone right now. Some people are interested, but most just scoff and say it’s impossible to sustain.

I don’t know why they can’t keep it to themselves. I’m not bursting into their bedrooms and telling them _they’re_ doing it wrong. I don’t know what gives them the right to judge me.

Aside from all of these thoughts, I realize that I’ve managed to space off and completely ignore what’s being said to me.

That’s not good for me right now seeing as my powers have yet to come back under complete control. The last thing we need tonight is for the opera house to become an ice skating rink. Kitty looks at me in an annoyed way because I’m not listening to her. Daken, on the other hand, looks more concerned.

I shake my head to clear it.

“Sorry, what?”

“Forget it.” Kitty sighs. “Let’s just go to our seats.”

We take the stairs slowly and find our seats in a private box.

Part of me wants to know how Daken got these seats. Part of me knows to stay out of it, though.

Kitty makes snide comments about Boyfriend number three- as she always does- and he goes about retorting in a cheerful and pleasant manner. If she’s weighing on him- he’s not showing it.

Though to be honest, every time he visits his sisters- he comes back chipper. There’s no other way to describe it.

We wait for the show to start and when it does it’s soooo boring.

Loud singing in a language I don’t speak.

Would be much cooler with some fight sequences. Maybe…. Jedi’s? Yea. Jedis make anything cool. Lightsabers flashing all over the place- then maybe some singing that’s in English. And not so loud.

I stomach the performance by pretending it’s a different show entirely- it helps more than you’d think it would.

After the show, speakers come out.

Waiting for Johnny takes forever.

The usual suspects are here, Philanthropists, doctors helping the ‘mutant cause’- which if they were really helping then they’d know that most mutants don’t like that phrasing- leaders of different teams- Tony for the Avengers since Steve seems to have a habit of saying the wrong thing or just generally putting his foot in his mouth. It’s always been a little fun to watch the Avengers kind of fuck around with things while the X-men generally have our shit together. At least- in public we do. We’ve got a lot more on the line being public mutants. It’s a ‘ _privilege_ ’ that other teams don’t have the ‘honor’ of having to put up with.

When Johnny finally comes out, he’s obviously nervous. He mumbles his lines and stutters a bit.

Very much not like himself.

Fuck. I knew he wouldn’t be able to do this right now. Not with Sue still MIA. It brings back too many painful memories. He and Ben holding up the FF on their own is really weighing on him. Daken tried to tell him not to do it but he didn’t listen. Partly because he’s, well… Johnny, and partly because he in some sense wanted to honor them.

In my opinion, they’d much rather he be healthy and happy than throwing himself in the spotlight for their benefit. Sue would be so upset that he would do this at this point in his life. But… you really can’t tell Johnny much of anything once he gets it in his head. He’s a real ‘hot head’. Ha. I’ll have to save that pun for later- see if it cheers him up.

I look at Daken. “He’s bombing,” he says.

“Yea…” He really is. This is hard to watch.

“We have to help,” Daken says. I don't like the tone of his voice when he said that. It sounds like he’s about to do something that could very well get us kicked out. Which he’s been known to do on several occasions.We don’t need Daken to do something drastic tonight. He’s on thin ice with Kitty already.

“Help?” I ask nervously.

He nods, standing up from his seat and leaving the booth.

“Where’s he going?” Kitty hisses.

“To help Johnny.” I try to sound happy about it.

“How the hell is he going to help Johnny???” She whisper-yells. “He’s on the stage in front of 200 or so people. He can’t even get to him!”

“Oh, he’ll get to him,” I say. Knowledge gained from many, many, _many_ interactions with my boyfriend at this point.

I keep my eyes on the stage- but nothing happens.

No loud noises- no violence. Nothing.

Maybe Daken couldn’t get to him?

“What’s he doing?” Kitty asks.

“I don’t know.” I pull out my phone and text him- putting it down to wait for a reply.

It buzzes about thirty seconds later.

“All he’ll say is that he’s helping,” I tell her. “He’s not going to give us any better answer than that.”

We watch the stage intently but again, nothing happens.

“God damnit.” I hiss, standing up from my seat.

“What?” She asks, turning to me with worry etched into her features.

“I gotta go find him before he does something stupid.” I shake my head. “And help him help Johnny.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” She whispers, “Are you going to stop him or help him?”

I shrug. “Both.”

“Both?? You can’t do both! You’re either stopping him from doing something stupid or you’re _helping_ him do something stupid. Which is it? I need to know how much bail money we need to have on hand.”

“I told you,” I smile, walking to the entrance to our box. “I’m doing both.”

I get halfway out of the box when Kitty comes up and grabs me. “Whatever he did- it worked.” She says. “Johnny’s doing fine now. So stay. That way only one of you gets arrested.”

I walk back into our box curiously and she’s right- Johnny’s doing great. Smiling, laughing, being his usual ball of sunshine self. The only thing that’s ‘off’ is that he keeps looking to the left of the stage- where no one can see anything because of the curtain.

Daken probably snuck backstage to give encouragements. At least I hope that’s all he’s done.

Johnny smiles and wraps up his speech asking for people to provide donations to the charity- God I don’t even know what this function is for. That makes me a terrible person.

The people clap and he waves as he exits the stage- to the left where he was staring. Everyone else used the exit to the right. A normal person probably wouldn’t think too much of it… but I can’t help feeling that my lovers are up to something that could fall on the side of public indecency. And while part of me is concerned- a being part is a little jealous that they’re being brave and bold and I am not. I’m starting to think that boyfriend number three definitely made it backstage. Without a doubt.

“Whatever he did- it helped,” Kitty says again. “And I don’t see security being called.”

That’s always a plus.

I leave the booth and wait in the lobby.

Crowds of people make their way to their cars- all dressed to the nines.

Woman and men on the drunker side of things wait patiently out front for Ubers- classy drunk people are like no other. Not that it would matter. When you have this much money the public drunkeness law is more like a … suggestion than a threat.

About ten minutes of waiting and Daken and Johnny walk out smiling.

“You did great!” I tell Johnny, smiling as he approaches.

He greets me with a brief kiss.

“Had some help.” He grins.

“Help?” Kitty asks suspiciously.

Daken nods.

“And what did your help do?”

“Hit the security forces with enough pheromones to take down an elephant and took their places backstag,” He says with a smile.

“Daken!” She gasps.

“What?? No one got hurt!” He laughs.

“You can’t make people have sex to get your way.”

“I didn’t,” he says. “I made them go to sleep. Pheromones do not always equate to sex.”

She stares at him for a long minute. “And… everyone is safe?”

“Not counting the throat I had to slit?”

She stares at him with a gaping mouth.

“I’m kidding,” He says quickly. “Everyone is _fine_.”

Johnny is grinning like he’s having the time of his life- which is good to see. He’s been a little off today. I mean, I understand why. It just always hurts to see him like that. “I bombed the first part.” He says.

“But you recovered,” I say cheerfully.

“Only because of Daken-”

The man in question shakes his head, which makes Johnny laugh and quit talking.

“Daken what?” Kitty asks. “What did he do?”

“Nothing.” Johnny grins.

“What did he do?” Kitty presses.

“I told you- nothing.” Johnny reaches out and takes my hand. “Thanks for coming, teach. I hope your lessons don’t go unplanned for too long.”

Kitty turns and glares at me. “You haven’t finished your lesson plans??”

“Define ‘finished’.” I say sheepishly.

Kitty punches me in the arm and walks off mumbling about men very loudly.

“What’s got her so pissed off?” Johnny asks.

“Me,” Daken says with a laugh.

“What about you?”

“At this point? I think my general existence.”

“Yea… seems like it.” I agree. “Do you guys want something to eat?”

“Provided neither of you picks the restaurant… sure.” Daken says.

“Oh, I’m definitely picking the restaurant,” Johnny says. “It’s _my_ night after all.”

“Ugh. I swear to god if you say fast-food…” Daken threatens.

“Not at all,” Johnny smirks. “I was thinking… Applebees’?”

Daken rolls his eyes. “Sentimental, are we?”

“Well, yea,” Johnny says. “It’s where we had our first date.”

“Our unofficial first date.” I correct. “I didn’t know we’d start dating.”

Johnny shrugs. “I think it’s safe to say it worked out for the best.”

“He’s right,” I say happily. “These two months have definitely been…. Interesting.”

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘fantastic’.”

“Oh my god if that was an attempt at a pun I swear I will wound you.” Daken says in exasperation.

Johnny moves over - putting me between him and Daken- before saying, “Yep. It was a pun.”

I can’t help but laugh at their antics.

“I’m good with Applebee’s,” I say. “A little trip down memory lane?”

We stand in the lobby talking until long after everyone’s left.

We’re still there when the cleaning crew starts about their business.

“We could just go home,” Daken offers. “I can cook something.”

“Eh… I’ve got to stay at the school tonight.” I say, a little disappointed.

“Don’t you want to know what I did?” He asks mischievously.

“Yes,” I say. “More than anything. But if I stay over I’ll get no work done.”

“Why don’t we run back by the school, get your things, go to the restaurant, and go home and I’ll tell you all about it.” He smiles.

“Okay.” I surrender. “But the two of you are helping me plan my lesson. And you can’t say ‘just throw them in the danger room’.” I point to Daken as he opens his mouth. “Or outside. Or send them into space. Got it?”

“Of course, dear. I wouldn’t say any of those things.” He says ‘sweetly’.

“Those are things you said yesterday.” Johnny laughs “Literally all of them. In that exact order.”

Daken is quiet for a moment. “I’m trying to broaden the children’s horizons.”

We both stare at him for a long moment before laughing.

“What?” He smiles. “I’m a giver.”

“Giver- right.” Johnny chuckles.

“I am,” Daken says pointedly, leaning around me and shoving on his shoulder.

“Boys, play nice,” I order with a grin.

“Yes professor,” Daken says.

It brings back a rather ‘delicate’ moment we had earlier today. And looking at his face- I know he knows it.

“Soooo… school, Applebee’s, house?” Johnny asks.

“Yea. That sounds good.” I say.

“Did you do laundry at your place?” He asks.

“Uh.. yea. I think so.”

“Okay cool. I left some clothes over there.”

“I’m pretty sure those were your jeans I washed…” I try to remember.

“One way to find out.” He grins. “Let’s get out of here!”

“Sounds good to me,” Daken says, starting us on our journey out of the building. “Johnny, did you drive?” He asks.

“Yea,” he says.

“Bobby?” he asks.

“No- I caught a ride with Kitty.” I look around in the parking lot for her car- there aren’t a lot of them left. “Who seems to have left,” I note.

“You can ride with me,” Daken says happily.

“Why do I think that if I let the two of you ride together you’re going to end up on the side of the road somewhere like a couple of teenagers?” Johnny teases.

“Darling, I would never do that,” Daken says.

“Oh, yea?”

“In my car,” he says with a grin.

Johnny gives the valet a ticket and waits for his car to be pulled around. “I’ll give you… thirty minutes to be at the school before I go home.” He laughs as his blue sports car is pulled in front of us. “Then I’m going to bed.”

“Got it,” I say. “Thirty minutes.”

“You got it.” He smiles. “Make sure he’s got it.”

“He’s got it,” I say. “Because I’m driving.”

“Since when?” Daken says indignantly.

“Since you most likely used a lot of your powers and it’s made you tired,” I say, knowing him well enough to know that if he had to control pheromones on more than three grown men- he’ll be tired as fuck and acting like he’s not.

He smiles. “You’ve got me,” He says. “I surrender. Drive.”

Johnny gets in his car. “See you losers in thirty minutes,” he says.

“Bye!” I wave as he pulls off.

Daken turns to the valet and gives him a ticket that I never saw him receive now that I’m thinking about it.

“How did you get that? He didn’t give it to you when you got out.”

“I have my ways,” He says cryptically.

“Another Daken mystery- hmm?”

He grins. “No- I was here earlier scoping out security.” 

“Oh.” That kinda shocks me. “Why?”

“Just making sure that no one who wasn’t supposed to get in could.”

He’s been worried more and more about attacks since Remus died. He thinks that Romulus is bound to find a way to get him if he ever finds out we did it.

Which is plausible. Only Romulus is about 1000 feet of water in the world’s most secure prison. The possibility of him getting out is slim to none.

Still… Remus had operatives on this side of the country. They may want some kind of retribution. It’s been two months, though. If someone was going to come after us- I think it would have happened by now.

“Thanks for that,” I tell him. “But you really don’t have to do that. This place had a lot of heroes in it. Any one of them could have taken on a threat. You didn’t have to take it on yourself.”

“If it’s the kind of threat I’m worried of, I’m the _only_ one who can take it on.”

I won’t fight with him. He’s convinced that if somehow Romulus is back- he’s the one who has to put him down.

We’ll leave out the part that everyone knows that he can’t do that. Not without damaging a part of himself that he can’t fix.

That’s why Logan stole the ‘kill’ in the first place. He knew it would hurt Daken.

“It’s not, babe,” I tell him. “Really- we can call Fury. He said he’d tell you if Romulus was to get loose. Remember? He’s a really big catch for SHIELD. If he goes missing- they’re going to notice.”

“Big catch.” he scoffs. “Right. They haven’t even caught him on one- third of the charges he’s faced with.”

I smile. “They would if a certain someone would cooperate with them…”

Daken stares at me for a moment. “Not putting my neck out like that,” he says, watching as his car is pulled up.

“I know,” I say. I know. He doesn’t want to bring that attention on himself. Half because he’s scared of what Romulus will do, half because he doesn’t want to relive it. It’s his trauma. He can do what he wants with it.

The valet gets out and hands me the keys. “Tip him,” I tell Daken. “Please.”

Daken reaches in his pocket and pulls out his wallet. (His wallet that is probably more expensive than half the watches I own) He hands the man a twenty.

“Thanks,” I tell him, taking the driver’s seat and waiting for him to get in.

We pull off from the curb in silence. It’s not awkward, but I can tell he’s thinking.

If the look on his face weren’t enough the air in the car is heavy- like it’s weighted with something. He’s not doing it on purpose- sometimes his powers are a lot like mine. They’re tied to his emotions. When he’s worked up- he can’t control them that well.

I can tell he's trying- the fact that I’m not being hit in the face with blind emotion attests to that. He’s just.. Not able to hold it all back.

“Babe… you know if something’s bothering you, you can tell me- right?”

He nods. “I know.”

“And if something were making you nervous enough to … oh say check the security of an event we’re attending that you should tell us… right?”

He exhales slowly. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s obviously something.”

I keep my eyes on the road.

“I just had a dream that Johnny was in danger,” he says. “It was nothing.”

“He’s not,” I soothe.

Daken’s had worse nightmares since the incident with Remus. Almost losing us on multiple instances that night really weighed his mind down.

Most of the time he’s alright.

“Is that why you want me to stay over tonight?”

“That.. among other things,” he says, looking out the window.

I’ll leave it at that.

We’ve been through a lot at the start of our relationship. Things have gotten much better- much less dramatic- and we’ve been able to fall into our own patterns. But we still started off kinda with a bang. (If you could call murdering a two- thousand- year- old mutant a bang.)

We’re all a little worked up still about that night. It’s hard not to be.

He’s just… a little more worked up. And we can’t really blame him.

I reach over and take his hand. “What did you do tonight?” I ask. “Seriously.”

He grins. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Yea.” I look over at him. “Kinda.”

“Get Johnny to tell you.” He says, still smiling, but closing his eyes and reclining back in his seat.

“Oh- so that’s how it is?” I chuckle.

“That’s how it is.” He responds before going quiet.

A few minutes of silence, I look back over and see that he’s asleep.

“Oh yea.” I chuckle. “You’re gonna be a lot of fun tonight.”

On the plus side- I may actually be able to get that lesson planned. So… silver  
linning?


	2. I dance, I get embarrassed, and I have late night sex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BE CAREFUL THIS HAS SEX AT THE END.  
> *spanking  
> *blow jobs  
> *anal penetration (via fingers and penis)  
> * very sloppy 'student/professor roleplay' (as they are completely terrible at it)  
> ALSO the first part is pure fluff. So about midway is where the sex starts. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading. I can't tell y'all how much free time I have right now seeing as I'm not working. I will most definitely have time to write this. And I hammered out a timeline with the lovely LullabyeLaura- who once again, has an amazing Game Grumps fanfic (I told her I'd stop plugging but I'm so very proud XD) so If you want to see the work of the woman who amazingly has put up with each and every one of my fic ideas since the beginning of our five year friendship- slip on over there and give her a look see. 
> 
> Again- thank you so much for reading. Please enjoy! And if you wouldn't mind, please leave a kudos or a comment to let me know what you think!

“Did he pass out?” Johnny asks quietly.

“Yea.” I smile. “He did.”

We’re sitting in our bed- well, our bed at their house. I split my time between here and the school. It’s close enough to really not be a bother.

“He was so tired today.” Johnny murmurs.

I nod. “He needs at least ten hours of sleep to be our normal loving brat.”

Johnny laughs. “Ten hours- huh? I would have gone with twelve.”

“Nah. More than ten and I start to think he’s ‘left the mortal coil’.”

“Ha.” Johnny pulls the blankets up his bare chest- making him a more acceptable version of decent. “Let’s leave him sleeping. He’s at least semi-peaceful when he sleeps. ”

“And only when he sleeps.” I tease.

“Ain’t that the truth?” Johnny grins. “You should follow me.” He says, standing up.

We have a good mattress now. Like a really good mattress. You can move in it all you want and not wake whoever happens to be sleeping. The bed frame doesn’t creak anymore so Daken has no reason to wake up.

"And where are we going?”

“Trip around the world, Paris, Sante Fe, Saint Luis-”

“Smart ass.” I groan- standing up and following him out of the room. “Where are we going?” I ask as I close the door. "Seriously." 

The house they moved into isn’t that big. Three bedrooms, three baths- that’s pretty much it. Daken didn’t go crazy with spending his money and he was determined to get it in this neighborhood so I’d have the option to stay over as much as I wanted and still get to work.

Mostly I stay on weekends.

I want to discuss the possibility of moving in full time- but I don’t think we’re there yet. Maybe around the six-month mark.

Johnny leads me into the well-lit kitchen. All of the appliances are black- the fridge, the stove, the dishwasher. In one corner is a large table- also black, and beside the table is a pantry that houses the washer and dryer- also black. Daken does most of the home decorating and black seems to be his preferred color.

The counters in the kitchen are gray granite- nice but not too expensive- and wrap around the right side of the room- stopping flush with the fridge that goes until an open space that houses a door to the backyard.

Johnny stands in the middle of the room and offers me his hand.

“What are we doing?” I ask with a laugh.

“Hey, Siri?” He asks.

I listen as is phone beeps its ‘Siri’ tone.

“Play music.”

A soft song starts to play.

“Dance with me.” He says.

“What?”

“Dance with me.” He grins.

“Now?”

Johnny nods.

I take his hand, letting him pull me close.

We sway for a minute before I put my head in his shoulder. “You and Daken do this,” I say.

“Yep.”

“You’ve never done it with me before.”

“Sure I have.” He laughs.

I shake my head. “Not at this time of night.”

Johnny kisses my neck. “Thank you for taking care of him tonight,” he says.

“What do you mean?” I smile.

“Driving him home, making sure he got there… he was really upset today.”

“I noticed.” I laugh.

Johnny nods. “He puts on a brave face… but he’s worried so much here lately.”

“He is.” I agree. “So so much.”

“And so often.”

I nod again. “What are we gonna do?”

“I want to spend a weekend with him,” Johnny says.

“We spend every weekend with him.” I laugh.

“No, I mean a weekend. Like a weekend away. Different state. Something like that.”

That’s… “That’s a really good idea, Johnny.” I smile.

“I know right?” he holds me tightly, swaying ever so slightly. “I’m so happy we have you.” He says in my ear.

The sensation makes a shiver run through my body. “Yea?”

“Yea.” His hand traces the muscles of my back and shoulders.

“I’m happy to have the two of you, too.”

Johnny’s hands are warm and soothing. I close my eyes and relax into his embrace.

“You’re so soft,” Johnny says.

“Soft?” I scoff.

“Soft.” He rubs my shirtless back. “Your skin is really soft.”

“I didn’t have my body wash so I had to use Daken’s.” I laugh.

“Makes sense.” Johnny chuckles. “I think he’s systematically ‘losing’ our shower gels and shit so he can buy us new ones.”

“It’s not the worst thing he could be doing.” I laugh.

“You say that now… but your car is also pissing him off. Don’t be surprised if you wake up to a replacement one of these days.”

“Replacement??” I say in shock.

“Your birthday’s next week,” Johnny says with a smirk. “Thirty- two is a big one.”

“No, it’s not.” I laugh.

Johnny pulls back so he can see my face. “Of course it is. You’re with us now. We’re going to celebrate the year you were born. Your mom said-”

“You talked to my mother??” I ask, even more in shock.

“Well… Daken did.”

“Daken talked to my mother??”

He nods. “About what you liked for your birthday.”

Of course I’ve told her about my two boyfriends- it did not go over well. I can’t imagine she’d appreciate a call from Daken, of all people.

“And how’d that go?”

Johnny grins. “Really well. She says she’s going to send pictures.” He lets me go and goes to the cabinet with our glasses in them.

“Pictures?”

“Uh-hmm.”

“Pictures of what?” Now I’m embarrassed. I don’t like being embarrassed.

“Oh, nothing much.” Johnny laughs. “Some pics of you ‘scuba diving’ with underwear on your head… some church clothes pics, a few school pictures, you playing in puddles butt ass naked.”

“Oh my god.” I groan.

“You said you wished she was more involved with your love life decisions.” Johnny is grinning mischievously.

“I meant sitting down for a cup of coffee or a family dinner! Not sending my boyfriends embarrassing pictures!”

“Awh.” Johnny moves around the kitchen, filling his glass with water from the tap- even though there’s a water feature on the fridge. I think it’s a habit for him. “Wait a minute…” He says, looking at the mail on the table. “Look what we have here…” He picks up a small package. “From a Mrs. Madeline Drake….”

My face must go pale. “Give that here.” I try to take it from him, but he puts it over his head.

“Give me that!” I growl, standing on my toes- which makes him stand on his.

He’s not much taller than me- but he’s still pretty damn tall.

“I wanna see scuba-Bobby.” He says with the world’s biggest shit eating grin on his face.

“Give it here!” I demand.

He keeps it over my head but starts to kiss me while I strain to reach them.

“I bet it’s cute.” He says against my lips.

“It’s not cute, it’s embarrassing!”

“We all have embarrassing baby photos,” Johnny says. “It’s a rite of passage for lovers to see them.” He pauses. “Well.. most all of us. I think Daken predates the causal snapshot.”

I exhale and stop trying to reach the package. “Fine,” I say, somewhat grumpily.

Johnny smiles and brings the white paper package down, opening it with a finger and pulling out several glossy pictures.

“Awwwwww,” he says immediately. “You with all your army men.” he shows me the pictures. At one point in time, I did have a collection of GI Joes. A lot of them- actually.

I’m kinda surprised mom didn’t see a career with violence ahead in my future.  

“Okay…. So that one’s not so bad.” I admit.

“School pictures- look how little you are!” Johnny continues.

I try not to be too hot in the face.

“Aha!” Johnny says with glee. “Scuba Bobby.”

“Oh my god.” I groan.

“Awhh.” Johnny laughs.

I reach over quickly and take the pictures from him. “Give me that.”

Johnny holds his hands up in a ‘you got me’ motion.

I look through the pictures and see something I wasn’t expecting. A handwritten note. _‘Akihiro, thank you so much for the lovely invitation. Louis and I will, of course, attend next Thursday. And as promised, here are some pictures. See you then!’_

I stare at it dumbfounded.

“She calls him ‘Akihiro’?”

“Yep,” Johnny says, coming behind me and wrapping his arms around my shoulders. “And he likes her. He really likes her.”

“Oh wow.” I’m stunned.

“They went out for lunch,” Johnny says. “She gave him all kinds of stuff to use against you.” He nuzzles the back of my neck.

“And we’re having a get together for my birthday?” I ask.

“Yep. A family meal- sorta. Daken’s cooking. He looked up Kosher recipes and everything.”

I take in what he’s said. “Wow. Really. Wow.”

“It won’t be too big.” He tells me. “Just us and them.”

That… why am I so nervous?

“In case you were wondering,” he whispers, “Daken is a mother’s favorite. He’s polite and well mannered and he’s usually as old if not older than they are.”

“He told my mom how old he was?” I turn around in shock.

“Yep. Your mom’s what… sixty?”

“About.”  Wow. Just... wow.

“Not so bad, is it?” Johnny teases.

“No- I mean- wow. I just didn’t expect him to take that much interest with-”

“You? Why wouldn’t he? We’ve been dating for two months. If we didn’t do anything for your birthday we’d kinda look a bit like dicks- don’t you think?”

“Yea, I guess it would.” I kinda laugh.

My birthday is November third.

It’s the 29th today. So… six days?

We’ve still got to get through Halloween. (Which means a huge party at mutant manor.)

“And… we got you a present…” he says in a sing-song tone.

“Oh, yea?” That makes me smile. “And what would that be?”

“Well, it’s actually three presents.” He says. “The first we can’t really give you in front of your parents.” He grins.

“And the other two?”

“You’ll have to wait and see.” Johnny walks over to the counter where his phone is sitting and turns off the music that I hadn’t even been registering.

I put the pictures back in their packet and down on the counter- hoping to find a way to hide and quite possibly burn them. I turn back around, watching my boyfriend move around with his glass of water, messing with all of the doors. “What are you doing?” I finally ask.

“Checking the locks.” He says. “Won’t matter if someone big tries to get through but… makes me feel better.”

“I doubt anyone would pick this house to break into.” I laugh.

Johnny looks at me over his shoulder, kinda sheepishly. “I know, I know. But… if I do it- then he doesn’t have to get up in the middle of the night and do it.”

“Ah.” I see. “Should we go check on him?”

“Yea… after today I think we should,” Johnny says, putting his water down on the kitchen counter. “Shall we?” He offers me his hand.

“We shall.” I take it and let him lead me back to the bedroom.

It’s pitch black and we can barely see.

Getting into the bed is more of a problem because of Daken’s sprawled out. We have to physically move him into a position that’s not one that requires half of the surface of the bed. In doing so- he wakes up with a jolt and starts struggling.

“Easy!” I yelp. “Babe- easy. It’s us.”

Johnny reaches over and turns on the light.

Daken blinks sleep out of his eyes. “DON’T DO THAT TO ME!!” He yells. “YOU CAN’T PICK ME UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WHILE I’M SLEEPING! HOW STUPID ARE YOU???”

“Babe-”

“You- you-” He inhales deeply, before grabbing the sides of Johnny’s face and pressing their foreheads together. His hand is near mine, so I take it. “Don’t do that to me.” He repeats, much quieter. “Sudden movements startle me. I could have hurt someone. Waking someone up with sudden jostling when they have knives in their hands is not a smart thing to do.”

Johnny kisses his forehead. “We’re sorry,” he says. “It won’t happen again.”

Johnny and I have both talked to Daken about the fact that he may (most likely) have PTSD. He has soooo many symptoms. The nightmares, the hypervigilance, the stiffness in crowds of people- he’s not listening though.

Daken nods. “I’m sorry I yelled.”

“You don’t have to be sorry.” I soothe, rubbing his knuckles. Daken lays back in the middle of the bed, closing his eyes. I notice that the sheets underneath him are soaked with sweat.

“Bad dream again, Daken?” I ask.

He nods with his eyes shut.

“Remus?” Johnny asks.

He shakes his head. “Training.”

Yea… that’s a bad one.

“You didn’t scream this time,” I say in what I hope is a hopeful tone.

“Yea.” He murmurs. “I guess I didn’t.”

“You should go take a shower babe,” Johnny says. “While I change the sheets. These are sweat-soaked. Like, thoroughly sweat soaked.”

“I don’t want a shower.” Daken groans. “I want to lie here and die.”

“That’s a little dramatic.” Johnny teases, bending low and kissing him. “I can turn Netflix on if you want.” He offers.

“Why? So we can watch four hours of ‘Archer’?”

“Archer is a classic!” Johnny and I say at the same time.

Daken cracks an eye open. “Do not team up on me right now or you’ll both be sleeping on the couch.”

He turns on his side, closing his eyes again.

“Hey babe,” I ask.

“Hmm?”

“What did you do for Johnny tonight?”

Johnny bursts out laughing. “I’ll tell you what he did.” He sits on the bed. “He stripped.”

“He did what?”

“Stripped. Knocked out six security officers and did a little strip tease.”

That makes me laugh. “I’d love to see that.”

Daken is grinning. “In the morning”

“What… you don’t want to give him a little show?” Johnny teases, playing with the sheets. “We’re already here… and we’re all awake.”

“Ugh. Fine. I’ll play. For thirty minutes. That’s it.”

“You’re too kind.” I laugh.

He nods. “One of you is sucking me off though. And I’m not moving.”

Johnny turns to me. “I’ll suck him off.” He offers. “You can fuck one of us afterward?”

“How about I fuck you during?” I offer.

Daken grins. “I like how ballsy Elsa’s gotten.”

“Elsa is a queen at the end of that movie.” I grin. “I could be a good Ice Queen- I think. Fair. Beloved by all my subjects.”

“And oh so modest.” Daken teases.

Johnny gently flips Daken onto his back, kissing down his bare chest and stomach. “Did you wear pants to bed?” He asks.

“Do I ever?” Daken retorts.

Johnny grins and removes the sheet. “You are a work of art,” he says, kissing his abs.

“I know it.” He hisses.

Johnny is on all fours over him.

I go to the nightstand and pull out the lube, coating my fingers as Johnny slips out of his shorts.

Johnny is partial to rough sex- but I don’t care for it that much. So I slowly work into him with two fingers- to which he loudly and quite vocally responds before taking Daken’s dick in his mouth.

With one hand occupied inside of him, I take my shorts off with my other. I picked a great day not to wear boxers to bed. Kinda proud of my lazy decision.

When I feel like he’s stretched out, I enter him as gently as possible.

When everything is said and done- I’ve gotten better at sex.

Definitely not a ‘virgin’ anymore. That gay space god will have to find another sacrifice.

We’re all pretty quiet tonight. I can feel Johnny moving with every well-placed thrust- but I’m going slow and deep. Not fucking tonight.

A few more minutes and Daken says very quietly, “Going to cum.” He sounds almost lazy.

Johnny picks up his efforts- meaning I pick up mine.

Daken cums within the next two minutes- making it last as long as possible. I’m guessing Johnny swallowed- I didn’t see him back up or let go.

I gently check Johnny’s dick to see where he is in this process- he’s pretty hard. Could be ready to cum. I lean down on his back, close to his ear. “You wanna wrap this up?” I ask him.

He nods.

“You sure?”

He nods more violently.

I grind into him, getting as deep as possible. He’s a little breathless when he says. “Can you go deeper?”

“I can.” I smooth my hand up his back while pushing further and faster.

“God.” he groans. “Really... Good god.”

He starts to tighten up, just as I feel myself losing it.

“Ugh, you’re so tight.” I groan.

He chuckles. “I’m not a slut- you know.”

Johnny doesn’t bottom that often, but since there are three guys now, he does it more than he used to.

I hit that one spot inside of him that turns him to jelly. He cums as if on demand. I follow a few seconds later, spilling inside of him and collapsing to my knees.

That’s not a big of a deal as it used to be.

I vaguely recall our first encounter and how unbelievably nervous I was. I know I”m not hurting him now. I know he’s actually enjoying himself. That’s all I need to know.

Reading your lovers body is something that’s not hard to pick up at all. Well… not when it’s Johnny. Daken is hard to make cum sometimes. His head gets gummed up. That’s kinda when you know he doesn’t want it.

We’re all quiet for a minute before Daken says, “You did this so we’d have to get a shower… didn’t you?”

Johnny laughs. “I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a perk.”

“Damn you,” Daken says jokingly, rolling out from underneath him and standing to his feet.

Johnny looks over his shoulder at me. “Enjoying the view?”

I lightly pop his ass. “Yea, you could say that.”

“Have I been that naughty, Professor? Going to spank me?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you what you’ve been,” I say lowly, smacking him again.  “Greedy.”

Daken stops in his tracks, watching.

“More.” Johnny groans.

“I already fucked you.” I pop him again. “And you want more?”

He nods.

“Then come over here.” I sit on the edge of the bed.

He pulls himself onto my lap, basically collapsing. “I forgot to do all of my labwork and want to desperately change my grade,” he says.

I can’t help but break character. “Really?”

He flashes a grin. “You can do whatever you want until the grade’s been made up.”

“It’s very bad to proposition a teacher,” I say with a smile. “You know that- don’t you?”

He nods. “I can’t help myself.”

I smack him again- harder. “Then we’re going to have to work on that.”

“I’m so sorry.” He says.

“That’s not good enough.” I look up and see Daken sitting cross-legged on the floor.

“I’m sorry, Professor,” Johnny says in faux innocence. I can see him winces whenever I hit him. We’ll have to wrap this up soon- I don’t think he’ll be able to take much more.

Then again, he’s let Daken spank him until he cried, before. It was weird to watch, but also kinda hot? He said he needed ‘emotional’ relief. Daken seemed to understand what he meant.  

I spank him a few more times, leaving his ass red. When I’m done, I lightly ice up my hand and take care of some of the stinging. That makes him moan. “I think you’ve learned your lesson,” I tell him, lightly smacking him with an iced up hand.

“Someone please,” He says. “I don’t care who… take care of this.” I feel his hard dick against my thigh and instantly know what he’s talking about.

“After that? I would be happy too.” Daken says,

I help him sit up between my legs, watching him spread his.

Daken takes him into his mouth, keeping eye contact with both of us.

“Yes.” Johnny groans.

It doesn’t last long- blowjobs from Daken never do.

He swallows and gets to his feet. “I’d give the two of you… a B plus,” he says.

“B plus??” I gasp. “That was at least A minus work right there.”

“The dialogue was a little sloppy,” Daken says with a grin. “But overall enjoyable.”

“Don't know when I’m ever going to get an A in your book.” I grouse.

“Keep trying.”Johnny laughs. “I’ve been trying for two years now.”

“It takes a full-blown production to get an A,” Daken smirks. “It takes nothing, however, to get a shower. We’re pushing twenty minutes.” he claps his hands together. “Let’s move it.”

Johnny looks at and shrugs. “Guess he’s serious about this time limit.”

“I’m deadly serious about this time limit,” Daken says, walking off towards our ensuite bathroom.

Johnny stands up and offers his hand to me. “Let’s join him,” he says with a smile.

I nod. “Let’s.”  

  
  
  
  
  



	3. Return of an asshole, red herring cocaine, and the kids all go to space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING FOR NOTHING I CAN TAG REALLY.  
> -this chapter is VERY VERY VERY sad.  
> -I wanted to explore the idea of an abuse victim even entertaining the idea of having to go back to their abuser (that probably gave too much away) and how desperate that would make them. And how the people who loved them would have to react to that.  
> -I do promise a happy ending though. So there's that! 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and commenting and leaving kudos. I've got a LOT planned for this series. Like SOOO Much. we're easily talking five or six fics with a A LOT of chapters. And hopefully, y'all will like the levels I'm going to take the characters to! 
> 
> So, again, heads up, very sad. Very emotional. Talks about drugs (cocaine and weed) and that's all I can really say.  
> Thanks for reading!

“So...last night… was..” How to explain to him what he already knows? No way to do it without him being smug.

He’s been forced to use his body so much that he gets really attached to the idea of him being wanted at all times. Like obsessive over it sometimes. Telling him he’s amazing at sex (as fucked as it is) isn’t always good for him.

He is. And he knows that we love and care about him. But us repeatedly telling him how good he is in bed or how attractive he is just keeps him in the mindset that that’s the only way he can show us affection. That as far as relationships go- that’s all he brings to the table.

Dissecting Daken logic takes a loooooot of thought and effort.

If I could I’d punch Romulus in the face myself.

“Mm-hmm,” Daken mumbles.

“And now I’ve gotta go-”

Daken drapes himself over me. “Call in sick.” He tells me in almost a whiney way.

“I can’t call in sick- Daken.” I laugh. “Kitty will _kill_ me.”

“Tell her I’m sick,” he says.

“Daken-”

“Tell her… please. I’m so sick.” he coughs into his hand. “See? Sick as a dog.”

I kiss his bratty lips. “You can’t get sick and we both know it.”

He sighs. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“I know you don’t.” I kiss his lips, his nose, and his forehead. “But I have to go teach.”

“Please don’t leave me.” he sounds semi-serious. “Please.”

If only Johnny hadn’t been called into the shop today.

“I have to go, babe,” I tell him. “I can text you between classes.”

“Not good enough.” He pulls close to me, snuggling into my chest. “Stay here, with me.”

I kiss him again- I can’t seem to stop. “You could come with me?” I offer tentatively.

He sits up and looks at me with calculating glance.

“You could.” I continue, seeing that it’s somehow hitting him. “And we could have lunch after second period.”

He stays quiet.

“You’d get to watch me in action.” I bribe. “Maybe pick up some new ‘tips’ for dialogue?”

He smiles. “And what will Headmistress Kitty say?”

I frown. “I’ll tell her that you’re having a rough day and that you need to stay with me. You can sit at my desk.”

“I’m sure she’ll love that.” He says with a grin.

I shake my head. “If you two would quit your bickering you might actually find that you like each other.”

“I like Katherine.” He says incredulously.

“If you like her so much- why do you insist on calling her, _Katherine_?” I ask, amused.

“That’s her name.” He says defensively.

“She prefers to be called “Kitty” and you know it. _Everyone_ knows it. Even the bad guys.”

“I happen to like the name ‘Katherine’ I don’t think it should be abbreviated.”

“How would you feel if she walked around calling you ‘Akihiro’?” I ask.

“Happy.” He says- shocking me. “That would mean she knew me well enough to use it.”

“Well… Akihiro,” I try it out- he doesn’t seem to object, “ _Kitty_ likes to be called “Kitty’.”

I play his name over and over in my head. It’s so... Pretty. I remember thinking that the first time I heard it.

“Then Kitty she shall be,” Daken says with a grin.

“Thank you.”

He snuggles into me again, burying his head in my chest. “Don’t leave.”

“Daken,”

“Bobby please.” He begs. “Please. Don’t leave.”

This is getting… weird. He’s… he’s scared of something. He's playing a game with me to cover something up. 

It took me a little while to catch on- it usually does though. Johnny's the only one who can call it right off the bat. 

“Honey… what are you scared of?” I ask gently, pulling back from him a bit.

“What do you mean?” He asks.

“You’re scared that something is going to happen when I leave. What do you think is going to happen?”

He swallows. “Just stay.” He says in a whisper.

“I can’t help you if you aren’t honest with me,” I say quietly, kissing his head. “What are you scared of?”

He’s quiet for a long second before saying, “Pass me my phone.”

I reach over onto the nightstand and unplug his charging iPhone. He always prefers the smaller ones- which is weird for a guy, in my opinion, but he says they’re easier to use.  
He unlocks his phone and hands it to me.

Safari is open and it’s pulled up to a news article. One that has a picture of the ocean with a large amount of smoke coming off of it.

“Fire?” I ask. “Poor ocean. Oil spill or something?”

“Read.”

I skim down the page. It’s talking about some kind of underwater... Oh fuck.

“That’s the Raft,” I say in shock.

He nods. “It is.”

“Anyone who was in it would have been drowned,” I say, trying to calm us both.

“Read.” He repeats.

I try to scroll slowly- keeping my heart rate and breathing steady so he doesn’t know how freaked out I am.

None of the prisoners are accounted for. No bodies. Only guards. And they’ve swept the area more than 200 times in the last 24 hours.

“They… Got away?” I ask tentatively.

“ _He_ got away.” Daken corrects. “Please don’t leave me.”

I nod. “Okay. Okay, babe. I’ll stay.” I take his phone and lay it on the table. “I’ll stay. But I’ve got to go call Kitty first- okay? And then we’re going to call Johnny. And then we’re going to call Fury. Got it?”

He nods.

“I need to hear that you’ve got it,” I say. “Verbalize that you understand what we’re going to do.”

“I understand,” he says. “And I will obey.”

I hate it when he phrases things like that. But.. sometimes I think he can’t help himself.

“Okay.”I kiss his head. “Stepping into the hallway to make a call.”

“I understand.” He lays down beside me and pulls the blankets up to his chin, staring at the widow- the early morning light making it through the blinds hits his face in an attractive way.

I nod, getting up from the bed and taking my own phone off the nightstand.

I walk out into the hallway and dial Kitty, closing the door behind me.

She picks up on the second ring.

“I KNOW you are not calling out.” She says hotly.

“The Raft was burnt to the ground last night, ”I say quietly. "Well.. the ocean floor, at any rate." 

“I’m sorry- what?”

“The Raft? The prison with _you know who_ in it? Burnt. Everyone escaped.”

She’s quiet for a long minute. “No.” She says finally. “How is he?”

So she does care.

“I’m not sure,” I say quietly. “Clingy. Needy. Scared.”

“Hmm. So what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to spend the day with him- for starters,” I say. “So… yea. I’m calling out.”

“You could have worse reasons.” She says with a sigh.

“I’m going to call Johnny home,” I tell her. “And then maybe Fury. I’m not sure.”

“.... Fury’s at the school.” She says. “I… didn’t know why he was here, he’s talking to Ororo in the office and won’t let anyone else in.”

“Fuck.” I hiss.

She nods. “I guess he’s looking for you?”

“I guess so.” I stare up at the ceiling. “I can’t leave the house today. Daken’s terrified something’s going to happen.”

“I honestly think you should be too, Bobby.” She says.

“Well, I’m not,” I say. “We don’t even know if _you know who_ knows she’s dead. Or that _we_ did it.”

“You know better than that.” She whispers.

I swallow. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. We’re going to figure out a plan.”

“Fine. Let me know what that plan is.” She says. “As soon as you know it- okay?”

“Okay,” I say. “I’ll let you know. Right now I got to go calm him down.”

“Good idea.” She says. “I love you, Bobby. Please be careful.”

“Love you too,” I say, hanging up.

I’m to turn around when my phone rings again. A number I don’t know.

I don’t think much about it- but I have so many new students that all unknown numbers must be answered. They all have mine, after all. And because they come from so many different places- all the area codes look a little funny.

I answer in a pleasant “Hello?”

“Is he with you?” I don’t recognize the voice- the accent is… hard to decipher.

“I’m sorry who?”

“The boy. Daken. You’re his new… toy... Are you not?”

“Who is this?” I ask, tone going cold.

“A person of non-importance.” The man says with a dark chuckle- it sounds almost like a growl.

“Then his whereabouts are not your business,” I growl.

“The whereabouts of my possessions are _always_ my business,” he says crisply. “And I plan to collect him shortly. If I were you, Mr. Drake, I’d make sure I were nowhere to be seen when I do. I don’t leave loose threads. And Johnny Storm and yourself look terribly thread like.”

“Is that a threat?” I ask.

“A promise. You took something that was not yours. Something that was not meant to anyone's. You’ve no idea the work I put into the boy. And I didn’t bring him as far as I did so you could fill his head with idiotic _nonsense_. If you’re wise, you’ll bring him to me. If not… well… your school is vastly unprotected. And children are oh so easily taken out of the equation when not trained properly.”

My blood is cold in my veins.

“Bring the boy to the New York train station. 3 PM. He’ll know where to go.”

“I’m not doing that,” I growl.

“Then the blood is firmly on your hands.” He says with a low laugh. “Truly- is he really worth the price of fifty something innocent lives? Would you really put _damaged goods_ above innocence? The boy won’t die, I give you my word. He’ll be happy to come back where he _belongs_. Being with the two of you has... Confused him.”

“Romulus,” I say slowly, “I want you to listen to me. Listen very carefully. What you did was wrong. You are a truly evil being-”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” he interrupts. “And I don’t care to hear your little speeches. Bring me what is mine and you and yours will go about your peaceful existence. I have little patience for this at this time.”

“You can’t have him.” I hiss, stepping further away from the bedroom door.

“I made him,” he growls. “I can take him whenever I so please. Without _me_ , there is no _him_. I offered you a chance to do this with minimal bloodshed. Should you choose to forgo that chance well… you’re as stupid as you look.” He hangs up in my ear, leaving me standing here in a cold sweat.

Oh god.

My students. My school.

Or…

Daken.

His servitude. Going back to the man who’s done unspeakable things to him. To the man who will abuse and use him until he ceases to be everything that I’ve come to cherish.

I can’t let him know what’s going on.  
I can’t-

The door behind me opens up.

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly. Muted really.

“Uh…”

“I uh… have to go.” He says.

“Go?”

He nods.

“Go where?”

Daken looks lost. “I just have to go.”

“No, no sweetie. Don’t go.” I take him into my arms. “Why do you want to go??”

He’s quiet for a long minute. “Do you know how thin this door is?” he asks randomly.

“You heard.”

He nods. “You can’t put me over all of those kids. Even I’m not that vain.”

“Honey…” I hold him tightly - feeling him tremble. “Shh,” I say in his ear as he wraps his arms around my neck. “You’re not going back to him,” I tell him firmly. “Not now, not ever. Okay? You deserve so much more than that. I would never, _never_ give you back. You don’t belong to him. You are your own person. You’re not a thing that can be owned or abused whenever someone else feels like it.”

“All those kids will die.”

“There’s like… ten x-men in that house.” I soothe. “They won’t die.”

He takes a shaky breath.

I hold him for a long minute- and we say nothing.

I can feel hot tears on my shoulder, but I don’t call him out on it. He’s terrified. I would be too if I were in his position.

“Stay with me,” I say into his ear. “We need you here. Okay? You belong here. With us. With your friends. With your sisters…. All these people love and care about you. We won’t turn you over to this asshole.”

Daken is motionless in my arms. It’s like he’s stopped breathing.

“Stay with me,” I repeat. “I need you here.”

I feel him nod against me.

I loosen one hand from him and open the bedroom door again, gently moving us through it. I get him back to the bed and sit him down, kneeling between his knees on the floor and taking his hand. “We’re going to have to fight him,” I tell him. “And I need to know you’re going to be okay doing that.”

He says nothing, just looks at me like he’s lost.

“Baby, I need to now that you’re going to let us do what we have to do,” I tell him. “This is hard for you- and I understand, I really understand. He’s hurt you in ways I can’t even begin to wrap my head around.”

He nods.

“But you need to stay with us. We love you. We care about you. We love you for all that you are. You don’t have to be a weapon, you’re not a thing, you’re not a sex toy, you’re... Just Daken. And we love Daken. You are not anyone’s to be bartered or dominated.” I see a tear roll down his face. I’ve never seen that before. “Okay?”

“All those people will die.” He says. “I am not worth all of those lives.”

“Your life is just as valuable as theirs.” I soothe.

“I’m damaged goods. He said it himself.”

“He’s not right, honey. You need to get that straight with yourself. Just because he _says_ it doesn’t mean it’s true. It's not like coming from his lips makes it the word of God. He's just a person- like you. Like me. He can't decide what _is_ and what _isn't_ true.”

Daken looks like his world has come crashing down around him. I guess to him- it has.

“Did he say anything about Remus?” He asks.

“No. Just you.”

“But he threatened you,” Daken says.

I nod.

“And Johnny.”

I nod again.

“Then how can you rationally tell me to stay?” He asks, pain clear in his voice.

“Because Love isn’t rational,” I say, wiping a tear from his cheek.

He closes his eyes. I pull my phone out, while still holding onto him, and text Johnny as fast as I can. I’m sure there are typos galore because I’m not looking at the screen and I’m texting one handed. But I try my best and hit send. “It’s okay.” I soothe. “It’s more than okay. We’ll get through this. We got through Remus just fine. We can do him too.”

Though I don’t think he’ll grant us a giant ass sword to whack him with.

Johnny texts back a ‘hold him there- do not him leave the house, stay with him, please, please, PLEASE stay with him. I’m on my way.’

“Johnny’s coming home,” I tell him gently. “Stay with me.”

“I need alcohol,” he says.

“Not right now you don’t,” I say.

“Pot?”

“Nope.”

“Coke?”

I pause. “Do you have coke in this house?”

He nods.

“Where?”

“Please don’t be mad.”

“Where?” I repeat.

“No- you’re mad. You’ll do something stupid.”

I kiss his hands. “You can’t use- baby. You know you can’t. Not even a little bit. You get addicted too quickly.”

“It’s not like it’s a kilo.” He scoffs. “It’s just-”

I let him go, starting to look for the coke.

My back is turned as I ask, “is it in your things?”

He doesn’t respond.

“Hidden in the kitchen?”

No response.

“Daken-” I turn around and he’s not there.

“FUCK!” I race out of the room and catch him going out the back door.

“What are you doing??” I grab him around the waist.

“Everyone is going to die because of me,” he growls, trying to get free.

“You’re not turning yourself over to him!” I growl back, holding on tightly. “You KNOW what he’s going to do to you when you go back- don’t you!?”

“Let me go!” he cries.

The front door opens, emitting a very worried Johnny.

“What are you two doing?” He asks in shock.

“He’s trying to turn himself over to Romulus!” I call, pulling him back through the door.

“He’s going to slaughter an entire school because of me!” Daken cries.

Johnny quickly helps me pull him back from the door, locking it behind him.

“Easy now,” he says. “Let’s all just take it easy.”

“Innocent people are going to die. Violently.” He says, tears rolling down freely. “ _YOU_ are going to die. Violently. I’m not worth that. Just give him what he wants and he’ll go away.”

I hold him from behind and Johnny crouches down in front of him. “Shh.” he soothes. “It’s okay baby.” He wipes some tears from Daken’s face. “It’s okay.” He then wraps his arms around him from the front while I continue to hold him from behind.

 “You’re both being so stupid!!” he yells.

“I know,” I say. “I know we are. We’re a couple of idiots.” I kiss the back of his head.

“You are going to die! Do you understand that??? There is no beating him! He cannot be beaten!!! You are going to die and he’s going to take me anyway. And then I’m going to have to live the rest of my fucking life knowing I got you killed!” He yells at us. “I will have to lie with your murderer every night and relieve how he brutally murdered both of you and .. and.. You’re just being so FUCKING STUPID!!! Why are you doing this??? Let me go!! I’m trying to save you!!” he bucks against us- but we’ve got him to secure.

“Let GO!” He yells.

“Shh….” Johnny shushes.

“I don’t need to be silenced!” Daken thunders. “GET OFF OF ME!”

His voice cracks.

Johnny looks over his head and nods.

I put my hand on his back and slowly start spreading a slight chill across his skin.

“NO.” He snarls. “NO- do not do that. I do not want to be calm!”

Cooling him down when he’s upset actually helps calm him down. And he hates that I know that.

“Stop!” his voice cracks again.

“Easy,” Johnny says. “Look at me, baby. Look at me.”

“LET GO!”

It takes a lot of effort to restrain him.

He lets out a wordless, pain-filled, raw yell.

We keep going.

We hold him until all that’s coming out are soft sobs. No words. No screams.

His skin is cool and he’s shivering. “Better?” I ask.

He seems to fall in on himself.

I stop chilling him and squeeze him from behind. “It’s okay,” I say gently. “You’re okay.”

“More than okay,” Johnny says softly. “You’re doing great.”

He stays motionless, closing his eyes.

It doesn’t look like he’s going to be running anywhere.

“I’ve got to go call Kitty… get them to move the kids.” I say quietly, more to Johnny than him. “I’ll-”

“I’ll hold him,” Johnny says.

I let him go- not wanting to at all- and watch him collapse in Johnny’s arms.

“It’s okay.” I gently stroke his bare back. “Easy now.”

Johnny nods to me. “Go on.” He says. “He’s not going anywhere.”

I call Kitty again. “Kitty-”

“He’s on his way to the school.” She cuts me off.

“How did you-”

“Fury told us. That’s why he’s here. Romulus doesn’t know exactly where you are and because you’re an X-man he thinks he’ll find you here.”

“Fuck!”

“Don’t worry.” She says quickly. “No one’s going to be here.”

“Huh?”

“The school is evacuated. We used Magik, Pixie, Kurt, God- everyone. Hank’s teleporter. All the kids are gone.”

“Gone where?”

“Somewhere safe- don’t worry.”

“Gone where?” I demand.

“In a very short and brief x-man explanation- Space. I took the kids to space.”

“You… space?”

“Yea. Lillandra said we could take refuge with the Shi’ar. Helps to have connections- right?” She laughs uneasily.

“Oh my god.”

“I know.” She says. “Most the staff went with them. Rogue and I are going to leave a scent to a location away from the school and then teleport somewhere else- okay? We’re all safe. We’ve got about thirty minutes to get away from the school and get somewhere safe. We’re okay.”

I shake my head. “Wow.”

“Yea. Keep Daken safe and away- okay?” She says. “I know he’s bound to be upset and thinking some stupid things… but keep him away.”

“Yea,” I say. “Yea- of course. I mean, we’re trying.”

“Hey uh… I know he wouldn't do it on purpose...and least I hope he wouldn’t… but don’t tell him where we took the kids.” She says. “In case Romulus has a way to get it out of him.”

“I won’t,” I say.

I hear a commotion from the kitchen. “I gotta go. Please stay safe.”

“I will, I promise.” She says. “Look after him- okay? If half of what Logan told me about this guy is right- you cannot imagine what he will do to Daken when he finds him.”

“I got it,” I say. “I’ll talk to you as soon as I can.”

“Roger.”

I hang up the phone and go back to the kitchen, seeing another wrestling match.

“Hey,” I pull Daken off of Johnny. “Hey, hey,” he’s fighting against me to get free, “he’s going to the school- but it’s empty,” I tell him. It doesn’t seem to register. “Daken did you hear me?? The school is empty. No one is going to get hurt.”

He stops struggling, going limp.

“And he doesn’t know where you are.” I soothe. “We just stay in the house and wait for an all-clear- okay? We just stay here until he leaves. Got it? He can’t find you.”

Daken’s eyes are watery.

He’s got a bruise fading from his forehead.

“He can’t find you,” I repeat. “You’re safe. We’ve got you. No one is going to get hurt.”

He is still before nodding. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

He nods again.

“Now, we’re not letting you out of our sight until he’s gone,” I say. “So… back to bed. Both of you.”

Johnny nods and helps Daken to his feet. “Come on baby.” He says in his ear. “Nice and easy.”

I don’t really know how to process all of this. I kinda feel an unnerving shiver running through my cells… but it’s over drowned by this protective urge.

I can’t believe the damage that ONE phone call had. Just one.

But… the kids are safe and for right now, so are we. So we’ll just have to keep our heads down and figure something out.

“Easy.” Johnny coaches, ‘helping’ (more like ‘forcing’) Daken to the bed. “Bobby?

“Yea?” I say, standing her in a distracted haze.

“Get him some water, would you?” Johnny calls.

“Yea, sure.” I go to the cabinet and pull out a small plastic cup, going to fridge and putting it under the water dispenser. When it’s full- I don’t feel like it’s cold enough ( he needs to literally be chilled when he’s this upset) so I ice it up for him. Not majorly, but enough for it to be something for him to focus on and ground himself.

I bring it back to the room and watch them for a second. He’s obviously on autopilot, leaving Johnny to really make all decisions. Johnny nods to me when he sees me standing there.

I take the glass to Daken who stares at me blankly for a few seconds.

“Take the water, baby.” Johnny coaches.

He looks surprised- like the thought hadn’t occurred to him- and takes the glass with a shaking hand. “Thank you.” He says quietly.

I crouch down in front of him. “Hey,”

He looks me over- his eyes look dead inside. No spark. No life. No joy. He’s just… there.

“It’s okay,” I tell him. “We’re completely safe.”

“Want me to check the locks?” Johnny asks.

He smirks- getting a little bit of life back in him. “I don’t think that will do much.”

“But it makes me feel better,” Johnny says sheepishly.

“Then by all means.”

Johnny kisses his forehead moving post the far side of the bed to over where I am. He leans over and pecks my cheek. “Good calls today, professor,” he says with a grin.

I can’t help but smile. “Yea… I guess they were.”

He nods and goes to check the doors.

“As for you,” I say to the man on the bed. “You are now under ‘upset claw wielder’ rules.”

“Oh?”

I nod. “No sudden movements, no leaving the room on your own, no-”

He’s shaking his head.

“I get it.”

“I know you do.”

I watch him for a second. Wanting to do so much but not knowing what he’ll allow me to do.

“Stop staring at me and just kiss me,” he says. “It’s alright.”

I smile and lean up, kissing him gently. “You’re gonna be okay,” I say quietly. He nods. “But if you pull the “I’ve got drugs’ card again to get away from me- I’m gonna freeze your feet to the floor.”

Daken actually laughs. “That’s fair.”

I kiss him again. “Damn right it is.”


	4. All clears, boops, demons, car rentals, and the start of a very, very, VERY long road trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so in honor of Halloween- I added some Demons! YAY demons! 
> 
> Though seriously- I am a HUGE LOTR fan. I watched the movies with my dad every year at new years. I mean- the extended versions- too. And one thing I really loved was the battle scenes. (You can kinda get where I'm going with this) So... I intend to make one of my own between the original 'mutant races'. And then add in some aliens. Maybe. Maybe. 
> 
> So no real warnings in this one. Some bobby/johnny/daken fluff in the beginning. Pregnant lady sass. Things like that. 
> 
> Please enjoy! And if you wouldn't mind, leave a comment or a kudos! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

“Waiting… and waiting… and waiting…”

“You saying ‘waiting’ over and over again isn’t going to make the wait any shorter.” Daken snaps at Johnny. “You’re just making me anxious.”

We sit in our living room- side by side on the large brown couch.

I wish we could at least cuddle but Daken is too freaked out to move.

And as always when he’s freaked out- he’s masking it with disdain and grumpiness.

Johnny kisses his head. “My bad.”

He makes a noise of affirmation.

Our living room is decently sized. It also only has one window- to the back of the room that Daken has thrown several several blankets over. He refuses to let us leave this room because the house is full of windows and he doesn’t want to be seen.

The high ceilings echo the sound of the old white men discussing politics on the news channels that we seem to be stuck watching. Personally, I think some cartoons would lighten the mood- but he won’t let us change the channel, either.

Johnny finally got a new TV- a big one that actually works about sixty-five inches, good brand, good sound, good picture- and we spend a lot of time out here watching it. It’s bigger than our one in the bedroom- that one’s mounted on the wall whereas this one has to sit in a large black entertainment center.

Daken’s obsessing over the fact that he’s being watched.

Even though we’ve checked several times and no one is out there- not even the neighbors- he’s convinced. He’s been stuck in his head all morning- as much as we’ve tried to bring him out.

He claims he’s felt ‘off’ all morning and that he’s never wrong about these things.

Our poor guy is worried as fuck. It took at all we had to get up out here from the bedroom.

“I could make us some lunch…” I offer, trying to soothe his worries.

“No one uses the kitchen,” Daken says tonelessly. “Too many windows.”

“Then we can have something delivered-”

“No phones and no giving out our address,” Daken says, staring ahead at the Tv.

“Baby,” I say carefully, “We’ve got to eat.”

“We’ll eat when we get the all clear.”

“Yea- about that,” Johnny says. “How are we supposed to get it if all of our phones are off?”

Daken stays quiet.

“Daken-”

“I heard you.” He says.

“And..”

“I’m ignoring you.” He says, picking up the black remote and changing the channel.

“There are only five news stations,” I say. “No one is going to say anything about it. Let us watch something else.”

“No.”

“Daken…”

“No.” He growls, giving me serious side eye.

He’s sitting in between us and he’s rigid. He’s not even sitting like himself. He’s leaned over a little, arms on his knees as he takes in every single word that’s muttered and tries to check for double meanings. Like somehow Romulus has gotten a hold of the news stations or something and is trying to send a message.

He’s not. But, again, Daken is convinced.

I lean back and look at Johnny, who grins.

I don’t know what he’s up to- but I like the grin.

We’re all silent for a moment before I hear a quiet “Boop.”

Daken ignores him.

I grin and poke him lightly in the shoulder. “Boop.”

He keeps facing forward, trying to act like we’re not in the room.

“Boop,” Johnny repeats, louder, poking him in the face.

It looks like this isn’t phasing him… but I know him better than that.

“Boop.” I poke his arm.

Johnny grins. “Booooop.” He stretches the word out and pokes Daken’s cheek.

Daken still refuses to acknowledge him.

“Boop,” I say quickly, poking his side.

“Boop.” Johnny pokes his other side.

“Boo-”

He swats my finger away. “Enough!” he snaps.

Johnny looks at me and grins again.

“Boop!!!” We both say at the same time, poking him on each side.

“Argh!” Daken stands to his feet, walking away from the couch.

“Awh babe.” I laugh. “Come back!”

He grumbles to himself, pacing behind the couch.

“I could make you something to eat.” I offer again. “You’re really hungry- I can hear your stomach growling.”

“No kitchen!” he snaps.

“What if we army crawled in there?” Johnny asks.

Daken turns on his heel and glares at him. “This isn’t a game, Jonathan.”

“We know it’s not,” I say cheerfully, trying to save Johnny from the line of fire. “We’re just trying to lighten the mood.”

“The mood does not need to be ‘lightened’ if you ‘lighten’ it, you are making light of it and you will die. Do you understand??” He asks angrily.

“Come here,” Johnny says, not answering him.

It’s a bold move.

“Wha-”

“Come here,” he repeats. “As in over here. To me. On the couch.”

“Why?”

“Just do.”He says.

I don’t know where he is going with this- but I like it already.

Daken looks him over for a second before sighing and coming back to the couch, standing in front of us. “What?”

I watch Johnny for his next move.

“Closer,” Johnny says.

“I’m fine where I am,” Daken says crisply.

“Closer,” Johnny whispers. “Closer, closer, closer. I won’t bite.”

Daken glares at him before leaning over, closer to him but not moving to where he’s close enough to grab. “What?” He asks flatly.

Johnny raises a finger.

“Don’t you dare,” Daken growls.

He quickly reaches up and touches Daken’s nose and says very quietly. “Boop.”

“Argh!” Daken goes to turn around, but I reach out and grab him, pulling him back to the couch. He lands right back in the middle on his butt- looking shocked for a second before scowling.

“Let go!” He orders.

I start kissing all over his face and neck.

“Let go!” His order is weaker now.

“So cute!” Johnny teases.

“Argh!” He goes to stand up but Johnny snags him around the waist.

“Come here grumpy.” he teases, snuggling into his chest.

“This isn’t funny!” Daken snaps as he pulled back into the couch.

“Get his arm,” Johnny says.

“My- don’t you dare!”Daken yelps, struggling just a little- but not enough to let us know he’s serious.

We know the Daken game. He loves affection like this. He just acts grumpy so we’ll do it.

And that is something he actually admitted to us. In his own words.

He’s stressed and we’ve got to cheer him up.

If he gets serious about being upset- he’ll let us know. He always does.

I grab his arm and hold it immobile so Johnny can tickle him.

“Stop!” he’s laughing now.

“I’m sorry- would you prefer we go back to booping?” I ask, letting his arm go.

“God… I… I… " He’s too busy giggling to get out a sentence. “I hate you!” he laughs and laughs.

Johnny stops tickling and leans down and kisses him. “No you don’t.” he grins.

Daken stays on his back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling. “I’m no longer ‘grumpy’.’ He says. “Are you happy?”

“Well… yea.” I say with a shrug. “That was the point.”

He stays there on his back for a minute. “Bobby... Turn on your phone.” He says finally.

At fucking last. This has been the longest three hours of my life. The school was Empty. What was Romulus doing there for three hours?? “Okay.” I reach over and pick my phone up off the black coffee table that’s situated in front of the couch and turn it on.

Johnny starts to pet his hair, making him close his eyes and sigh. “Love you, brat.” He says.

“Love you too,” Daken says with his eyes closed.

My phone boots up and I wait for all the messages and notifications to appear.

“Kitty says that Rachel says we’re all clear. He’s gone.” I smile in relief.

They both smile as well.

“Finally!” Johnny laughs, putting his hands in the air in a ‘goal’ sort of fashion...

“Pet,” Daken says.

“Nope. I’m cooking.” Johnny says. “I’m starving.” He stands up. “My dears- what do you want to eat?” He asks.

“Eh- I could do with some cereal,” I say.

“Toast,” Daken says.

“What? No meat?” Johnny sounds personally offended.

“Nope,” Daken says. “Just toast.”

Johnny pats his stomach. “You feeling okay?”

“Fine. I just want toast.”

“Toast is your “I’m not feeling so hot” food,” I say.

“I’m fine,” Daken growls. “I just want toast.”

“I’ll make you some toast,” Johnny says. “Calm down.” He stands to his feet. “What kind of cereal Bobby?”

“Frosted Flakes.” Daken and I say at the same time.

I look over at him and see just the edge of a smirk.

“Got me all figured out- huh?” I laugh.

He nods.

“What do you want to go with your toast, Daken?” Johnny asks.

“Jam.” He says like that’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Okay, yea- but you have like four different kinds,” Johnny says. “Which type?”

“... blackberry.” I say in thought.

Daken looks at me and smiles.

“Blackberry,” I say again with a nod.

That’s his ‘I’m not really feeling good but I want something sweet’ meal of choice.

“Toast and blackberry jam and a bowl of frosted flakes it is,” Johnny says, walking into the kitchen.

“Pet me.” Daken orders.

I laugh and start to run my fingers through his silky hair.

He sighs and keeps his eyes closed.

“I love petting you,” I say. “Your hair is so soft.”

“Uh-hmm.” He says.

“And it’s never greasy.”

“No. It isn’t.”

“And it’s so long.” I play with the strands- really enjoying the sensation of the hair flowing between my fingers.

“I’m glad you approve,” Daken says with a smirk. “Keep petting.”

I stroke him for a few more minutes while Johnny moves around in the kitchen.

“Did Kitty say anything about what happened?” Daken asks after a few minutes of quiet.

I check my phone. “Security cameras caught him entering the school, he searched through all the rooms..” I pause. “And hacked the mainframe… weird.”

Daken gets a new look of horror on his face. “Johnny?” he calls.

“Yea babe?” Johnny sticks his head back into the living room.

“Get your keys,” he says.

“Keys?”

“We have to leave.”

“Leave?”

He nods, standing to his feet and grabbing his phone. “Bobby get chargers and wallets,” he tells me.

“Daken-”

“Chargers and wallets,” he growls, going to the bedroom.

I follow him, interested. “Where are we going?”

He starts to change into a pair of jeans. “Hotel.” He says.

“Fun!” I try to sound happy. “Why are we going?”

“Because he’s looking for me,” Daken says. “And if there’s even a shred of information on you- social media, cell phone GPS- anything- he knows where we are.”

“Okay…” I say, grabbing three chargers off the nightstand- where they’d all been sitting.

I’m dressed in a pair of jeans already. I just have to throw on a clean shirt. I grab one of my tanks from the dresser.

Johnny comes into the room with his keys. “Where we off too?”

“Laura’s,” Daken says. “She and Gabby are coming with us.”

“Does Laura know that?” I ask, watching him dig through the closet and pull on a hoodie- no shirt, just a hoodie.

“Not yet.” He murmurs, digging through to find his shoes.

Johnny grabs a t-shirt to go with his blue shorts. He also ends up sporting a Fantastic Four Logo. I feel kinda outta place.

“We need to pack-”

“We don’t have time to pack.” He says. “Shoes.” he looks at us expectantly. “Now?”

We put our shoes on, grab the wallets, grab the chargers, grab the phones and head out the door. Johnny’s car won’t be big enough for all of these people... But there is no talking him out of it right now.

When we’re situated in the car- Daken in the back, me upfront- Daken’s phone goes off. Everyone holds their breath in anticipation. “It’s Laura.” he says, answering the call.”Hey,”

He listens for a minute and says, “Where are you?”

There’s silence.

“She’s at the OBGYN downtown.” He nudges Johnny’s shoulder. “Someone is following her.”

Johnny nods and we pull out of the driveway.

“Do not engage,” he says. “We’ll be there in ten.”

“Twenty.” Johnny corrects.

“ _Ten_ ,” Daken growls.

Johnny sighs. “Ten it is. Buckle up.”

We have the world’s most fear-inducing ride to the doctor’s office- where we find Laura and Gabby standing in the parking lot surrounded by… strange looking yet familiar people.

“What the fuck??” Johnny hisses, pulling up into the spot nearest them.

Laura looks at us wearily, but Gabby runs straight up.

Laura’s got a small baby bump- nothing really major. It’s caused her to wear a lot more sweatpants than she used to, though. She’s dressed in yoga pants and a baggy red hoodie. Really normal looking. Her hair is pulled up high- she says it’s growing faster than usual and it needs to be tied back so it doesn’t get in her face. I don’t know if that’s a normal pregnancy thing or a Wolverine Clan specific pregnancy thing. Laura’s the first girl of the clan. It’s hard to tell.  
Gabby is dressed in her costume- black half mask included.

“Don’t attack! These guys are on our side!” She says.

She’s missing her goggles so I think maybe she just went to bed in her costume and didn’t change this morning.

Laura’s been sleeping in lately- something she never used to do.

“They’re on our side!” She repeats. “No stabbing or blasting!”

Side? What side?

We have sides now?

These ‘guys’ look like straight up demons. Like- demon demons.

And I know who they instantly and want absolutely nothing to do with them.

“Halloween isn’t until tomorrow,” Johnny says. “Kudos for the costumes though.”

The man in the middle a man with red skin, black and yellow eyes, and an air of disdain looks him over. “I’d like to speak to Daken.” He says. “ _Privately_.”

“Yea I’m gonna say no.” I recognize that man anywhere. I was held prisoner in his dungeon. “And you can go back to hell,” I say. “Come on Laura. Let’s go.”

Kurt’s dad- the man who can pass himself off as Satan- a literal demonic warlord- is standing in the parking lot surrounded by his guards- a large man with wings and a smaller blue woman with wings. He used to have three but uh… I kinda took care of the third one. It was a weird mission all the way around. What can I say?

“Please refrain from teleporting until after I am out of the area,” Laura says. “The smell of sulfur makes me want to vomit.”

“We’re not leaving until I talk to Daken,” Azazel growls.

“Yea- like I said- Not happening,” I say. “And definitely not on his own. That’s too fucking weird right now.”

I don’t know what we could have possibly done to warrant a ‘visit’ but we’re going to get the fuck out of here before he can tell us. Or ya know- kill us.

“And if you come near the girls again- we’ll take necessary action,” Johnny says.

“I mean no harm.”Azazel sighs. “Obviously. If I wanted the girls dead- they’d be dead already. I choose to do this in public so you’d feel… safer. I need to talk to Daken.”

“And since she’s already pregnant…I suppose she really is safe from you.” Daken says snidely.

“Look,” Azazel says, “I’ve come all this way, you can at least talk to me.”

“I find your timing very suspicious and I don’t want to talk to you alone,” Daken says.

“We’re in public- very much in public- I won’t take you away.” He says. “And I haven’t associated with your master for years. You _know_ I won’t hurt you.” He pauses. “I never have. I’ve never _wanted_ to. And you know that.”

“I still don’t trust you,” Daken says. “There are several childhood wounds that speak against you.”

“I never intended to hurt you.” He says, somewhat sincerely. “I never accepted you as a gift, I never willingly laid a hand on you, we both know that out of all the people that man associated with- I was the _least_ of your worries.”

That’s right. A while back Daken said that Azazel was one of his masters ‘associates’.

“If you’re not a concern- why did you work with Romulus in the first place?” I ask.

“That’s a long story. I don’t want to go into it- I have very little time.”

“I don’t trust you,” Daken says. “And I’m not leaving with you.”

“Perfect,” the red man huffs. “Wonderful. We’ll do it out here.”

“What are you doing exactly?” I ask.

“He wants to talk about Romulus,” Laura says. “He won’t say any more than that. I tried to avoid him when I called. He’s been following me all morning.”

“I didn’t mean to worry you-” He says carefully. “But I knew you were the only person who knew where Daken was. It’s important that I talk to him.”

“You stalked my pregnant sister,” Daken growls. “Do you know what undue stress can do to an unborn baby?”

“I am aware and I’ve apologized. If I wanted to harm the unborn child a simple spell would have ended the pregnancy. I didn’t even need to touch her to do it.”

“Well, that’s charming.” I scoff.

“That’s not a threat.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Will you stop attacking me long enough to for me to tell you why I’m here?”

“He wouldn’t leave once he approached me,” Laura says. “And the doctor said to keep my stress to a minimum.”

“Which I had no way of knowing,” Azazel says.

“He refused to leave and avoiding him did nothing.” Laura continues.

“Avoiding him works very poorly.” Daken agrees. “What do you want, Azazel? I don’t like associating with you and people are starting to stare.”

“To make a very long story short- your master being out and about is not good for several people,” Azazel says dryly. “Which I’m sure I don’t have to tell you. In the last 48 hours, he has kicked up enough dirt and muck that the _entire_ mutant community will be reeling from it in the next few days. Major events are transpiring and he is firmly behind all of it. Sound familiar?”

“And…” Daken says. “You want me to…. What exactly?” He asks.

“And as part of the mutant community- we need to stop him,” Azazel growls. “And you need to help us with that. You’re the only one who can get to him.”

“Yea, good luck with that,” Johnny says. “Come on girls, we’re going somewhere else.”

Laura and Gabby move past the demonic party.

“Bye Satan!” Gabby says cheerfully.

“There’s a war coming,” Azazel says flatly, glaring at us. “A big one. If you don’t help me stop it now, it will destroy the mutant race as we know it.”

That stops everyone in their tracks.

“War?” Daken asks. “What war?”

“War.” He nods. “Your master has succeeded to fan the flames of conflicts thousands of years in the making. And he’s done it in two days. Two days. The longer he is free the larger the chances are that all of this volcanic pressure will erupt- burning everyone and everything in its path.”

“What do you want me to do?” Daken asks quietly.

“He’s looking for you,” Azazel says. “I want to, quite frankly, use you as bait to draw him to me. There isn’t a person on earth that he wants more than you at the moment.”

“Yea- no deal.” I cut in. “Daken is not going anywhere near that man.”

Not if I have anything to say about it. Azazel and I have faced off before. I won. I can do it again.

“The fate of thousands are on the line.” Azazel hisses. “Don’t be arrogant enough to stand in the way of the only plan that can stop it.”

“What war are you talking about? What conflicts?” Johnny asks.

“The original mutants- the races from which you and your brothers and sisters _owe_ your gratitude and powers to- are in conflict. They are being called to arms. This world- this dimension- is about to turn into a giant battlefield from which no one can escape. Not me, not you, not the x-men- no one. It will be all-encompassing.”

Wow. Fuck.

“If what you’re saying is true- what does it have to do with Daken?” I ask.

“Less to do with Daken singular and more to do with the three of you altogether. _You_ -” He points to me. “Started this by killing Remus. Romulus doesn’t know who did it and his right-hand man got the wrong information and blamed it on me. I didn’t touch Remus. I wouldn’t. The woman is insane.”

“Was Insane.” The blue woman beside him corrects.

“Yes, thank you. _Was_ insane.”

“Then why not tell him it wasn’t you and be done with it?” I ask.

“Because blood begets blood- boy. Flesh for flesh. An eye for an eye. Someone has to pay this debt.” He says. “There was a pact between us all made thousands of years ago after the first war. One of the stipulations was that we didn’t openly try to kill each other. Romulus in some fashion believes that pact has been broken. That gives him the right to go about seeking retribution in any way he deems fit.”

“But you didn’t do it,” Gabby says.

“At this point- it doesn’t matter who’s done it, little one,” Azazel says. “Someone has to pay And I will be damned if that someone is me or mine. I have spent enough time in conference with the man. He’s one even I don’t wish to associate with.”

“So why is that someone Daken?” Laura growls. “Remus was killed in self-defense. It’s not his fault. He didn’t even kill her.”

The point she’s making is valid- but it stings.

“He doesn’t actually have to pay- he’s just bait. If we can lure Romulus out we can stop him before this spreads any farther. If he is allowed to go free- if we do not stop him- our race will be eradicated within the next few months. Then he’ll come after mutants who opposed him. Then the humans. He will be the only one left standing and his ‘throne’ will be built on the corpses of the masses.”

“Why would Romulus want to start a war?”Johnny asks, much quieter than before.

“To come back on top,” Daken says quietly. “He wants power. This has probably been a goal of his for a while. He’s just finally found a means to do it. His mind works decades in the future. He’s always got a plan several years in the making in play. So many that even I don’t know all of them. This is entirely plausible.”

Everyone is quiet.

“My lord,” The blue woman says. “We must take our leave.”

“In a moment,” Azazel growls. “Boy,” he points at Daken, “You are what he is searching for. I don’t know what he intends to do to you and I don’t _care_ what he intends to do to you. It’s not my business. What _is_ my business is protecting what little is left of my people. It won’t matter what plane of existence they are on if he gets his way. All of us are very much in the same boat and we are all _doomed_ if we don’t stop him now.”

Fuck.

Mutant war. All out mutant war.

“Why should we believe you?” Laura asks. “You’re a known enemy to the X-men.”

“Please. I don’t care about your little boy band.” Azazel scoffs. “What I care about is not amassing casualties when my people’s population is still so dwindled from the last time this happened.”

“You can’t use Daken as bait,” Johnny says. “If what you’re saying is true- we’ll find a way around it. If not- then you’re selling a bunch of shit to get something and we’re not buying- got it? So move along. We’re leaving.”

“You’re an idiot,” Azazel says crisply. “Really. You are an _idiot_.”

“Yea, okay bye bye.” Johnny takes Daken by the hand. “Back in the car, baby,” he says. “Ignore the demon man.”

“Wait!” Azazel calls as we’re all loading the car. “If you leave the consequences of the deaths of thousands of mutant lives will be on your heads. Do you really want that? Can you deal with the bloodstains for the rest of your limited lives?”

This is a very intricate story he’s telling.

And if it’s true…

No. We can’t use Daken as bait.

Not when a man who’s fought against me twice is the one calling the shots.

How do we know he won’t just turn Daken back over to Romulus and leave and be done with it?

He sounds desperate.

And so far, there’s been no news on any mutant trouble. Even the normal mutant talk is toned down. Daken was watching like five different news stations not two hours ago. There was no talk of anything to do with mutants.

This could very well be a setup.

I scan the parking lot to see if there’s any threat.

Besides the small gathering of demons- I see none.

Johnny looks at me and then back to him. “Where’s your proof?” he asks.

“Proof?”

“Yes, proof. How can you back up what you’re saying?”

“With the fact that I’ve come all this way at a great personal cost to ask for your help?”

“Yea- not enough.” Johnny waves Laura and Gabby over. “Bye now. Take care.”

Everyone gets in the car. Before Johnny closes his door we hear a "You’re making a mistake!”

“I make those everyday,” Johnny says back. “Nothing new.” He closes the door and slams the car into reverse- pulling out of the spot and out of the parking lot.

Everyone sits in dead silence.

I realize that Daken has barely said anything.

“It’s not your fault,” Johnny says into the silence. “You didn’t do anything. Remus was killed in self-defense. None of this on you.”

Daken looks out his window- he’s seated up front now and I’m crammed into the back with the girls.

“And he’s probably lying anyway, Daken.” Laura pats his shoulder. "He probably intends to deliver you to Romulus himself." 

“He had a really cool sword though,” Gabby says.

Johnny laughs. “Yea. I saw that.”

I didn’t see a sword but I know he can use one.

“Who was he anyway?” Gabby asks. “He came out of nowhere.”

“Demon warlord,” I say. “The x-men have clashed with him a few times. He’s pretty tough to put down.”

“He looked familiar.” She says. “And I don’t see very many red people in my day to day life.”

“Well, he’s Nightcrawler’s dad- if that helps,” I say. “They don’t talk much.”

“Ah. I see it.” Gabby says quietly. “Soooo… what do we do if he’s telling the truth?”

“I’m not sure,” I say honestly.

“He’s not,” Johnny says. “It’s a trick. We’d know if something were happening. Nothings happening so he’s lying.”

“Nothing except for Romulus being back,” Laura says. “And the Raft mysteriously being destroyed while he was inside of it.”

We’re all quiet again.

“He did seem like he was at least partially telling the truth,” Gabby says.

“He wasn’t.” Johnny insists. “Where are we going, babe?” He asks Daken.

“Out of state.” He says. “As far away from New York as we can get.”

There’s murmured agreement.

“If we’re going to be in the car for a long period of time, we’ll need another car,” Laura says. “And some trash bags so I can be sick without us stopping.”

“Yea…” Gabby says. “She pukes ALL the time.”

“We can get the bags but… we can’t stop and buy a car.” Johnny laughs.

“No… we can’t.” Daken agrees. “But we can rent one.”

“And what- leave my car at some rental?” Johnny scoffs.

“Johnny- I need room to stretch out,” Laura says pointedly. “I am growing another human inside of me. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“Fine.” Johnny mumbles. “Fine. Fine. Fine. We’ll rent a van.”

“Thank you,” Laura says.

“Where can we go to do that?”

“Enterprise?” Gabby offers.

“No. They require ID.” Daken says.

“Babe everywhere is going to require ID,” Johnny says carefully.

Daken is quiet. “Take me to a dealership.”

“Daken-”

“Dealership. I’ll pay out of pocket. It doesn’t have to be a nice- just functional.”

“Which brand?”Johnny sighs.

“I don’t care,” Daken says. That shows how worried he is. He always cares what brand he things are.

We drive for a bit before pulling into the lot of a Carmax. Everyone gets out of Johnny’s car, Gabby running off the second her door is opened. “Over here!” She calls.

We follow her voice to a black SUV. Looks like it would seat eight. Understated. Roomy. Probably low on mileage. We’ll have Johnny look the engine over real quick.

As we’re looking a round older man with a bad combover makes his way over to us.

Salesman. Great.

“Hey there,”

“We’ll take this one,” Daken says.

“Okay,” the man doesn’t miss a beat. “Our financing options,”

“We’ll pay cash.” Daken interrupts him again.

He nods. “Let get you into the office then!” he says.

“Johnny- check the engine,” Daken says, following the man back to the big gray building.

I stay behind. “Johnny… what do you think about all of this?” I ask.

Johnny pops the hood to the SUV. “Don’t know honey.” He says. “I really don’t.”

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“I don’t know.” He looks over his shoulder and smiles. “But it’ll be okay. We’ll get through it. I’m more worried about how hard the trip is going to be on Laura.”

“Yea….”

“Daken’s scared,” Johnny says. “He has every right to be scared. He’s taking all the people he cares about and going into protective mode. Just… give him some time. He’ll get his head back on straight. We just need to make sure he doesn’t do anything too drastic while he’s like this.”

“Yea…”

Johnny shuts the hoods. “It’s not the best,” he says, “But it’s not the worst either. It can go for another few years.”

We wait outside for a long time- a very long time- so long that I’m getting worried, before Daken and his sisters come back with a stack of papers and keys.

“It’s ours?” Johnny asks.

“It’s ours.” Daken nods.

“And I’m calling him Muffin,” Gabby says.

“Muffin?” I ask raising an eyebrow.

“Muffin.” She nods. “Because it’s a van.” She grins. “It’s the muffin van.”

Daken groans. “Get in.”

We work the seating arrangements out to where Laura has the entire back seat to stretch out in and daken shares the middle row with Gabby. I keep up front to help with directions.

As we’re pulling onto the interstate Daken says calmly, “Idaho.”

“What?”

“Idaho. That’s where we’re going.”

“Why….?” I ask.

“Because it’s the last place he’ll look. He’s expecting me to go to Cali or go south- we’re not doing either so it will throw him. That gives us wiggle room. A small window to work in. It’s our best option for figuring out a plan.”

“And they’ve got great potatoes!” Gabby says cheerfully.

“Annnd there’s our silver lining.” Johnny grins. He reaches over and takes my hand. “Plug it in the GPS babe. We’ve got a long trip in front of us.”

Today hasn’t gone anything as I planned… but at least we’re all safe.

For now at any rate.


	5. Cops, exiting vans, woods, and the sickly pregnant woman deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all!  
> Another little update here!  
> I will warn you- were are getting into the meat of this story and stuff can be pretty rocky from here on in. Please check up here for warnings, b/c I don't want to upset y'all by an stretch of the imagination but I've got a killer idea for this fic. So just bear with me. (Unless you are triggered, then please wait for the next chapter's warnings- I don't want you to put yourself in danger just to read me. Please be careful. :) ) 
> 
> So this chapters warnings are  
> -car trip  
> -vomit  
> -car chases  
> -vomit  
> -drama  
> -infiltrated government officials  
> -some coupley stuff  
> -sick pregnant woman (i'm trying not to give too much away)  
> -Complications with pregnancy  
> -Demonic summoning  
> -Deals with the devil  
> -descriptions (very briefly) of a dead animal  
> -brief scene with blood  
> -magic  
> -desperation  
> -emotional turmoil
> 
> And... I think that's it! 
> 
> Please enjoy. This is a story that's taking a lot more set up work and intricate planning than I usual have when writing- so I really want to hear y'all's opinions.  
> Thanks so much for reading!

It took us a little while to get on the road. We had to backtrack and go get Jonathan.

The animal is anything but car friendly. He’s been digging at the back of my seat for five hours now. And that’s just when he started! There were several hours before that as well where he was misbehaving. I know Gabby needs him. And I know it wouldn’t have been right to leave him. …..But traveling with a wild animal is not something that’s good for one’s mental health.

And by one- I mean me. It’s not good for my mental health. Little dude’s driving me crazy.

I know it’s because he’s cooped up and needs some space- but fuck. We’re all cooped up and need some space right now. No one’s in the best of moods.

Between the urgency we had leaving, Azazel’s dire message, and a road trip with a very barfy pregnant woman- we’re not in the best of places right now.

Daken’s stressed as hell because he sees this as his fault.

He doesn’t consider that we’re doing this because we love him and want him safe as much as we want ourselves safe.

During our way, I’ve noticed an alarming number of cops along the way.

They haven’t pulled us over or been aggressive in any sense of the word- but they’re out. They seem to be everywhere we are.

Gabby’s even been counting them.

I go back to looking out my window- counting powerline poles as we pass. We’re up to about 40 - that I can tell. We’re still on the interstate. It’s hard to count them from here as I only get to do so when we pass a bridge that overlooks places with them. That makes it hard to see them.

Jonathan does one more swipe that breaks me. I can’t put up with this anymore.

“Gabby?” I ask, finally having had enough. I try to keep my voice from sounding mean.

“Hmm?” She asks like she doesn’t even know what’s going on.

“Can you stop him?” I ask, wincing when it comes out a little harsher than anticipated.

“Stop who?”

“Jonathan. He’s really digging into my back.”

“Come here, Jonathan.” There’s a small growl. “Nope- sorry. He wants to dig at your chair.”

I exhale slowly. “I don’t care what he wants- Gabby. He’s been doing it for hours now. It’s not comfortable.”

“Well being in the car isn’t comfortable for him, either.” She says defensively.

“Fine.” I sigh. “Fine.”

“We could put in the trunk space.” Daken offers.

Our van doesn’t have a ‘trunk’. Just a space behind the back row.

It would be big enough for him- that’s for sure.

“Don’t you dare!” Gabby gasps. “He stays with me! And that’s the end of it.”

Everyone goes quiet- knowing the girl won’t budge on her stance.

Johnny yawns from the driver’s seat.

“Pretty tired, huh?” I ask.

He nods. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

Johnny reaches over and takes my hand. I can tell just how tired he is. “Wanna trade-off?” I ask.

“I’ll drive,” Daken says from the back.

Johnny and I look at each other.

He leans between our seats. “Let me drive,” he growls. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“It’s not that we don’t trust you…” Johnny says. “But you’ve been so upset today... Maybe it’s best if you let Bobby and I drive and you-”

“Pull over.” He interrupts with a growl. “I’m driving.”

“Daken-” I try to break it to him gently.

“Agh. Pull over anyway.” Laura says from the very back. “We need to get rid of the vomit bag and I’m starving.”

“Jonathan needs a walk!” Gabby says.

“I guess…” Johnny says.

“Exit,” Daken says, pointing to the upcoming exit. “Now.”

Johnny takes the exit to the right and we pull up to a stop light, looking at a sign.

“Okay,” he says. “So we’ve got a Waffle House, a Burger King, and A McDonalds. What’s it going to be?”

Everyone turns their attention to Laura who shrugs. “Go to one of the burger places. We can’t take Jonathan inside- but we can eat in the parking lot.”

“Burger King it-”

“No.” She interrupts. “McDonald's, please. Their fries are something I crave.”

Johnny nods and pulls to the right, taking us down a little way until we find the golden arches.

“This has got to be the shittiest McDonalds I’ve ever seen,” I say quietly observing the establishment.

“Yea…” Johnny comments as we pull up into the parking lot. It’s deserted. There’s trash on the ground, a crushed box of cigarettes, and leaves all over the parking lot.

Those few things are our only company.

“This is creepy,” Gabby says. “I like creepy!”

Johnny nods. “Creepy McDonalds. Let’s do this.” we pull into the spot furthest away from the entrance. Ample space to move around should someone come after us. When the car stops, everyone stretches before opening the doors.

“I don’t like this,” Laura says. “Something is wrong.”

“I agree,” Daken says. “Something is not right.”

“Look-” Johnny turns around to face them. “We’ve got to eat.” He says.

“Somewhere else,” Daken says. “Please.”

“The faster we do this- the faster we get back on the road,” I turnaround too. “So….. Wolverine clan, just keeps your eyes and ears open. Johnny will go get the food, I’ll take the barf bag, and You three can walk Jonathan. Sound good?” I wait for their response.

Daken barely nods his head.

“Good!” I unbuckle and exit the ‘ The Muffin van’, feeling the cool air on my skin. It feels wonderful. Even more so when I start to stretch.

Gabby jumps out next- followed quickly by Jonathan who shakes his whole body and starts pulling her off in the direction of a sparse grouping of trees.

Daken gets out next, pulling up his seat to let Laura get out- taking her hand to balance her and helping her step down in a moment of careful, tenderness that you don’t get to see this family show that often.

“You okay?” he asks quietly as she holds her stomach.

“I’m fine.” She says with a nod.

He lets go and walks to where Gabby is.

Johnny gets out last, shutting Daken and Laura’s door before turning to me. “Food,” he says. “What are we getting?”

“As much as possible,” I tell him. “We don’t want to risk too many stops.”

“Gotcha.” He leans forward and kisses me. “Be right back.”

I watch him go into the restaurant. A sudden chill creeps up my spine so I go and join the Siblings with their pet.

Daken notes me approaching and looks at me with that ‘I want you to do something but I’m not going to tell you what’ look on his face.

I weigh out my options before coming behind him and wrapping my arms about his waist. “You okay?” I ask in his ear.

He shakes his head. “Something is wrong,” he says. “I feel it.”

“We won’t be here long.” I try to soothe his worries. The sky is dark with rain clouds. I look up at them. “Looks like a bad storm.”

“Could be a twister!” Gabby says excitedly.

“No,” Daken says. “Twisters are not good things, Gabby.”

“I’ve never been in one.” She groans. “It looks so cool.”

“I’m on Daken’s side,” I say. “No wishing tornados on ourselves.”

“Fine,” Gabby grumbles. “But it would make our ride so much cooler.”

“Not-” The sound of Laura puking throws me off.

She shakes her head and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “I need to call Warren,” she says. “He hasn’t responded to my texts.”

“You need to brush your teeth,” Gabby says.

Laura looks at her for a second. “Rinsing my mouth out would be an improvement.

“Take Gabby with you,” Daken says. “I’ll put Jonathan back in the car.”

Gabby leads the animal over to Daken, handing over his leash. “Be good for uncle Daken.” She says in parting, following Laura to the restaurant.

I squeeze Daken a bit. “Babe,” I say to him in his ear again. “You’re shaking.”

“Something isn’t right,” he repeats. “Something isn’t-”

Johnny comes out of the restaurant- minus food- grabbing Laura and Gabby as he comes. “In the car!” he yells over to us.

Daken quickly yanks Jonathan off the ground and moves him to the car- which makes him struggle. “Stop it.” He growls, taking claws to the face.

“Don’t hurt him!” Gabby cries.

“I’m not!” He snarls, shoving the animal into the van.

Gabby jogs over to the car, jumping in behind him.

Laura moves a little slower- as soon as she’s shoved into the back, Johnny jumps behind the driver’s seat, barely waiting for Daken and I to load up before slamming it in reverse and taking off backward out of the parking lot- as in he doesn’t go around- he looks behind him and drives backward until we’re back on the road and he jerkily puts the car in drive- speeding off.

“What’s happening??” I ask, trying to buckle my seat belt.

Behind us, a swarm of cop cars pulls into the Mcdonald’s parking lot.

“Need off the main drag,” Johnny mutters as we pull up to a small town.

“Left -now!” Daken says, leaning between the two chairs.

Johnny takes a sharp left and we go well over the legal speed limit- barreling out of the town we just entered and onto a deserted road.

“Any way we could slow down?” Laura asks shakily.

“No.” Johnny says, “Sorry.”

“What’s going on?” I ask, seeing my boyfriends wide panicked eyes.

He looks over to me quickly before looking back to the road. “There’s a country-wide manhunt for Daken.” He says. “They framed him for Remus’s murder, the murder of some mutant dignitary, and the death of a field trip of students.”

Daken’s face pales.

“I didn’t-”

“We know you didn’t,” Johnny says. “This is bullshit. Romulus is behind it.” He pauses. “They’ve somehow got the van, our tags, the fact that Bobby and I are with you-”

“He doesn’t know about the girls?” Daken asks.

Johnny shakes his head.

“We have to get them out of this van,” Daken says. “Now.”

“Where are they going to go, Daken?” I ask. “We can’t put them out on the side of the road.”

He’s eerily quiet for a second. “We need to ditch the van,” he says finally. “Go on foot.”  
“Daken…” Johnny says.

“Now!”

“He’s right,” Laura says from the back.

Johnny sighs and pulls the car down a small dirt road- parking it on the side. “I guess… everybody out.” He says.

We unload much more urgently than we did last time.

“Get moving.” Daken orders.

So we start our journey on foot. Eventually making it to what looks like a section of woods.

It’s dark and we can barely see.

“Johnny... Some light?” Daken asks.

Johnny sets his head ablaze- in an odd yet fascinating display. It definitely gives everyone more than enough light to see.

We walk in silence for about twenty minutes, stepping over fallen logs and crunching through piles of leaves. The late October sky filled with a chill that if not for my powers would seep into my very bones.

I can hear Laura’s breath grow more and more labored.

We’ve got a pregnant woman, out in the cold, in the dark, in what looks like is going to be a very bad storm.

Go us.

This was definitely not the best decision for Laura. I regret leaving the car immensely.

We could have found another way.

There had to have been another way.

There has to be a way to get out of this. Daken didn’t kill those people.

I mean… we did. I’m wondering how Romulus even got to the FBI without them mentioning his name. He usually works in shadows- right?

And if he had a clear location- SHIELD would be knocking his door down as we speak.

Surely Fury will stick up for us.

He knows Daken didn’t do it.

He was there that night. We called him- from the scene.

I spent hours telling and retelling what happened to him.

How shitty is it that Daken should have to pay for our mistakes? That Daken’s sisters- one of whom is literally carrying another human person- should have to suffer. Maybe if we turn ourselves in and say we don’t know where they went. That’ll give them time to head in the opposite direction.

Daken would never allow that though.

He’s not going to leave our sides.

“We’ve got to stop,” Laura says finally. “Make camp. I’m too exhausted to go on.”

Daken nods. “Let’s find a place to take shelter. It looks like we’re in for some rough weather.”

“And find something to eat,” Gabby complains. “I really wish we could have had some burgers.”

“Don’t worry about it, Gabby,” Daken says almost sweetly. “I’ll make sure you eat, I promise.”

Gabby nods. “Come on Jonathan. Sniff us out a place to sleep!”

Daken and Laura share a look before walking off after her.

The four ‘Wolverines’ set out together into the dark- leaving us behind.

“Hey!” Johnny calls. “Don’t you need to see??”

There’s no answer.

They’re in survival mode now. It’s something that family knows how to do all too well.

I guess we’re all a bit in survival mode. It’s something that, as an x-man, I’ve been trained on too. By the original Wolverine- at that.  
Johnny’s quiet for a long minute. “Wish I had some liquor.” he laughs wearily.

“Right now?” I scoff.

“Could be romantic.” He says. “Ya know- if it was at another time, we weren’t fugitives, and we weren’t in the middle of nowhere?”

“Yea.” I chuckle.

Johnny exhales slowly.

He’s weighed down by this. I can tell.

But.. there’s something else. He knows something else that he’s not said.

“Baby… how bad is it?” I ask him. “What did you see? What happened?”

“It’s bad.” He says quietly.

Shadows flicker around his face as his flames sway in the wind. He looks unearthly in all the best of ways.

“But how bad?” I ask.

Johnny takes me into his arms. “We’re going to jail,” he says. “And with the rate, it’s going- if we do, we will die.” He’s quiet for a minute. “Fighting Romulus is one thing- but these police officers- these agents, they’re innocent. We can’t hurt them. The simplest form of retaliation will make everything so much worse.” He sighs. “Our death warrants are signed.”

I bite my lip, letting him hold me.

“But there’s a way around it… right?” I ask. “There’s always around it. We can think of something.”

Johnny shakes his head. “No.”

“But Daken didn’t kill those people,” I say pointedly.

“Romulus has somehow got to the FBI,” he says. “Before we could even get safe. He’s moving fast… .it was all over the news. They’re broadcasting it every hour- according to the news on the TV. The workers recognized me and tried to lock me in until the police arrived.”

I lean into him more heavily. “Shit.” I hiss. “Shit, shit, SHIT.”

“I know,” Johnny says. “I know. But… let’s not tell Daken- okay? He’s the one that’s in the real danger. Let’s try to get him to relax a little. I don't’...” he stops.

“You don’t what?” I ask quietly.

He squeezes me. “I don’t want our last few days together to be filled with despair.”

“Johnny..”

“He’s going to take Daken back if we don’t stop him. Cut off from all our resources- we can’t stop him. Every cop in the country is looking for us and somehow they knew exactly where we are. To have gotten there when they did means they had forewarning that we’d be there.” He says. “Someone knows our moves better than we do.” He pauses. “And you can guess who that someone is.”

“God.” I hiss. “Fuck.”

He kisses my head. “I love you.” He says. “In case you didn’t know already.”

I close my eyes. “I love you too.”

“And… he loves you.” He says, nodding in the direction Daken had gone. “Of course it takes a while for him to say it- but we’ve talked about it.”

“This can’t be the end of us,” I say.

He holds my close. “I don’t know how else to put it. We can’t be fugitives.”

“We can-”

There’s the sound of crunching to our left, making me jump. “It’s me!” Daken says quickly.

Johnny and I both relax.

“We found a cave,” Daken says. “And a deer.”

“A… deer?” I ask.

He nods. “Laura and Gabby are skinning it as we speak.”

“Wow,” Johnny says. “That was fast.”

Daken grins. “Of course it was. Look who you’re talking to.”

I try to keep up a brave face and return his smile.

“What’s wrong?” He asks. “Besides the obvious?” He adds quickly.

“Nothing.” Johnny fields that question. “Just looking at you.”

He smirks. “Enjoy the view, then.” He extends both of his hands and we each take one, letting him lead us to our campsite.

It’s not very far away.

As we’re heading in, in eyesight of a large dark cave, it starts to rain.

“Really?” Johnny groans.

It rains lightly for a few seconds before the bottom falls out and it’s pouring.

“Really,” I respond.

We take off at a jog, trying to get to the cave before we’re completely soaked.

Our light flickering more as the rain impacts it. Fire and water do not go well together, after all.

We make it inside- Johnny illuminating the small cramped space that rocks walls are covered in graffiti. Thinks like “Luke is Gay” and “I did four bitches here” Smiley faces, big loopy letters of names that are almost illegible. Stuff like that.

Laura And Gabby have the poor deer off to the side of the cave and look happy for the light.

“Wow.” I look at the animal- barely recognizable at this point. “Really- wow.”

“Eh,” Johnny says.

“That’s so gross.”

Gabby laughs as Jonathan sniffs the pile of… god... Organs they’ve taken out of the deer.

“Bite-sized chunks will be easier to cook,” Daken tells them.

Laura groans. “I know, Daken. You’ve only told us three times.”

“And I’m telling you a fourth.” He lets go of our hands and walks to the center of the room where they’ve constructed a small fire pit with a large amount of chopped wood lying beside it.

“You guys really moved fast,” I state in an impressed sort of awe.

“Yeah… 10 axes and three lumberjacks.” Gabby laughs. “Light it up- Johnny!”

Johnny walks over and torches the large pile of wood surrounded by a circle of big misshapen rocks. He ignites his hand hands and blasts a large burst of fire until the sticks are properly ablaze.

The newly made fire casts shadows on all the walls and emits a low warmth.

I plop down beside it, feeling Daken do the same.

He lays his head on my shoulder. “Hold me,” he says quietly.

I wrap my arm around him. “Hey, baby.”

“Hey,” he says, closing his eyes.

“Hold that,” Laura says quickly, rushing to the mouth of the cave and puking her guts up.

“Yummy.” Daken teases.

Gabby walks over with an armful of bloody strips of meat. “Here you go, Johnny!” She says.

Instead of putting it on a stick or a rock to cook, Johnny messily rolls up his sleeves and stretches the meat out over his bare arms. He smiles when he sees everyone looking and ignites himself- right under the meat. He’s bright and hot and so pretty to look at.

The smell of cooking meat wafts through the air.

“Smells good, ”Daken mumbles.

“It does.” I agree.

Gabby and Jonathan join us over by the fire, sitting by Johnny’s feet.

Grease and juices fall to the floor and Jonathan licks them up.  
Eventually, Laura joins us.

 

Laying down on the floor on her back. “It’s cold.” She says quietly.

“Get closer to the fire,” Daken says.

Laura nods, rolling over onto her side.

“Something’s wrong,” Daken says into the quiet.

“Well duh-” I try to joke.

“No, somethings wrong with Laura. She smells... Off.”

Laura nods. “Yes. I feel it.”

“She needs a doctor.” He says. “We have to get her somewhere safe.”

“We can try to call for backup,” Johnny says. “But anyone who interacts with us is in immediate danger.”

Everyone is solemn and quiet. You could hear a pin drop.

“Is she going to lose the baby?” Gabby asks fretfully.

“It seems likely,” Laura says tonelessly.

Gabby is quiet for a minute before she starts to sniffle. “That’s not fair!” She cries.

“Gabby-”

“She’s not supposed to be under stress! If she loses this baby it’s that asshole’s fault and I’m going to punch in the face!”

“No, no, no,” Daken says. “You’re staying far away from him. I’ll think of something. We’ll get Laura help before anything else happens to little Blob- okay?” He says in concern. “Gabby,” she’s not looking at him, “Gabby look at me,” He says sternly.

Her eyes are watery as she looks up.

“I will fix this,” Daken says. “Okay, trust me. I will fix this.”

Gabby nods. “Okay.”  
He turns to Laura. “I don’t know anything about pregnancies,” he says. “But… I know someone who does.”

“Is this someone a doctor?” I ask.

“No.” he shakes his head.

“Is this someone a danger to us?”

Johnny flames off and the room gets darker and colder. He puts the meat on one of the rocks- now cooked and edible- before going to stand behind Laura. He sits a few feet back, extends his hands, and reignites. Trying to keep her warm.

“Yes,” Daken says, watching Johnny. “He is.”

“Daken-” I start.

“My nephew or niece is dying at it’s my fault.” He hisses. “I am going to fix this.” He raises up and goes to the deer carcas and scoops up a handful of blood.

“Eww.. what are you doing?” I ask in repulsion.

“What I have to.” He says lowly, going to a part of the cave and squatting down, drawing a large circle with the blood.

“Oh no,” I say. “No- no- no. Daken no. This is a bad idea.” I catch on immediately.

“It’s the only idea.” he murmurs, marking strange numbers and letters around the circle and drawing a version of a pentagram.

“You’re not a witch,” I say.

“Nope.” He looks up at me. “And he’s not a demon.”

“Then…”

“This is how Romulus used to summon him. I’ve seen him do it a thousand times.” He says before adding, “Bring me over some meat.”

I stand up and pick up a strip, carefully and slowly walking over to him.

He takes it from me and lays it in the center of his circle,

“Blood, an offering, and a small spell-”

“You’re not a witch,” I repeat.

“It’s an anybody thing.” He shushes. “You just have to know the words… and he’s got to want to come to you when he feels the call.”

“And… will he?” I ask tentatively.

He nods. “At least I up so.” He nods to me. “Back up.”

I exhale slowly and take a few steps back.

Daken speaks lowly in what I understand to be Latin. Identifying different languages is a talent you pick up on the job. I know none of them- but I pick them up.

“Johnny- should we stop him?” I look over and see him to preoccupied with Laura, who’s curled up into the fetal position.

Daken looks over his shoulder. “Come on asshole.” He growls, repeating his ‘spell’ again with more force. “Come on.” He pleads with thin air. “Please.” He starts his spell gain- only to be stopped by a large puff of brimstone that comes out of nowhere.

“A cave,” Azazel says as the smoke is clearing. “How homey.” He looks around. “See the whole gang is here.” He says.

“If I help you, will you help Laura?” Daken cuts right to the chase.

“Help her do what?” Azazel asks, raising an eyebrow.

“She’s sick. Her scent is off. I think she’s going to lose the baby. Can you help her??” He presses more firmly.

“With the understanding that you entering into this verbal argument in a rush with no written contract and not thinking through all the loopholes that could get you killed taken into account?” He asks.

Daken nods.

“One stipulation.” He says. “None of them get hurt. Or maimed. Or killed.”

“Agreeable,” he says. “But for this favor- you owe me one in return.”

“I know,” Daken says quickly.

“And you know what that will be.” He continues.

Daken nods. “Please. Help us.”

Azazel is still for a moment. “Break the circle.” He says.

“Shake on it,” Daken says.

Azazel grins. “Smart boy.” He extends his hand. “We have a deal. No one gets hurt and you owe me a favor of my choosing.”

“I agree,” Daken says. “Please- please help her.”

“Break the circle,” Azazel says, letting Daken’s hand go. “To get you safe and to prolong your safety- you’ll have to come with me. All of you.”

I join Daken at his side. “To hell?” I ask.

“To a hell like place- yes.” He says. “It’s the only way to keep you safe. The girl will need prompt medical attention. Neyaphem’s are notorious for difficult births. Most of our women would die in childbirth if we did not have advanced ways to stop them from doing so. The girl will need serious attention.”

I look over to Laura, hearing her whimpering.

Johnny looks back helplessly as Gabby tightly grips her hand.

“Fine,” I say. “It’s our only option.”

Daken smudges the circle with his foot, allowing Azazel to come out into the cave. He walks to the fire. “Put that out.” He orders.

“You can’t do magic with a fire lit?” Gabby asks.

Azazel actually chuckles. “No, we’re leaving. I don’t want to burn the forest down.”

Johnny leans forward and extends his hand, absorbing the flames.

We stand in pitch silence for a second. “Pick her up.” Azazel orders.

Daken rushes behind her and lifts her into his arms.

“Hold hands.”Azazel orders. “Or at least touch your neighbor. We don’t want anyone to get left behind.”

We all stumble around in the darkness, Johnny finally lighting his hair again so we can see.

I take Gabby’s hand in one hand and Johnny’s in the other. He wraps his hand around Daken’s arm, Daken’s already holding Laura, and Azazel touches Daken’s other arm while holding Gabby’s other hand, that's holding Jonathan's leash.

I look to my boyfriends, nervous as fuck to the point of almost trembling.

I know something had to be done… but is this really it?

“And no one will be hurt?” I ask before we go. “You promise. You promise you won't hurt anyone.”

“My word is binding,” Azazel says. “We have a deal. None of you will be harmed.”

Something sounds off about the way he’s saying that. Laura groans loudly, crying- which I never see her do.

I know this is what we have to do- as fucked up as it may be.

“Okay.” I nod.

“Hold your breath,” he instructs.

Everyone takes a deep breath and we disappear into thin air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So before I was a Daken fan- I was a huge Nightcrawler fan.  
> Turns out- I wasn't a huge Nightcrawler fan, I was huge Azazel fan.  
> Do not ask why- I fucking love this guy. He's old, he's mean, he's got a sword and a demonic army, he's been a pirate- I fucking love him.  
> And I've always wondered what would happen if he and Romulus were about the same age from the same time period- so I've conceived a way for them to be in cahoots at least in the past. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!  
> The next chapters gonna have a good bit of Daken whomping. I can't say much more than that- but when it's written and posted, warnings will be given! 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


	6. Saving baby Kinney, devil's history, ice ice bedroom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so some back story. 
> 
> There's a story line (Where Azazel is introduced) called 'The Draco' Or something along those lines it's been a really long time since I read it. In that, they did go to Azazel's dimension- Bobby included and Bobby did technically kill one of Azazel's right hand men. (Woman)  
> Also all the ancient stuff- I made up. As far as I know they never really went into why the 'angels' and the 'demons' fought. Not in great detail. 
> 
> I added in the lupines b/c while I hate that story plot point- I need it for this fic. XD 
> 
> SO warnings are  
> -vomit  
> -sickness  
> -magic  
> -potions  
> -drama  
> -mild smut (Fingering and anal sex (Barely XD) )  
> -confessions of love under dire circumstances  
> -and an overall depressed kinda feeling
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! IF you wouldn't mind to do so, please leave a comment or a kudos! 
> 
> ALSO you can find me on tumblr! Where I reblog a lot of Daken shit, do random spurts of artwork, and give tiny snippets of updates about not just this fic- but ALL of them. Including which one's I'm going to update next! 
> 
> Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

“Lay on her on the table.” Azazel orders, materializing us into a small poorly candlelit room with shelves covered in small bottles containing various consistencies of liquid in various colors. His voice is the first thing we hear- followed quickly by the scent of sulfur and the feeling of hot air.

It’s a really big adjustment for us to make- and you can see everyone thrown by it. _Particularly_ Laura who vomits all over Daken and the floor.

Daken places his sister carefully on a stone table, hovering by her hand before strengthening his resolve and taking it.

“You’re going to be okay.” He says gently before turning to Azazel. “Make her okay.” his tone softens. “Please.”

Azazel removes a robe like cape of fur, held to his shoulder by some kind of animal skull.

“You’ve no idea what you’ve pulled me from,” he complains.

“Bed?” Gabby guesses.

Azazel looks at her blankly. “No. I haven’t slept in twenty-four hours. I probably _won’t_ until this Romulus mess is settled. He’s taken something very valuable from me. I won’t sleep until I’ve gotten it back.”

Laura pukes again.

“Let me see her.” Azazel’s hand glows black as he holds it above her stomach. “I need skin to skin contact.” He murmurs. Daken jerkily unzips her hoodie and pulls her shirt up, stopping just below her bra. “Hmmm,” Azazel touches her skin- making her groan.

“She’s in pain,” Daken says. “Don't make it worse.”

“I’m not.” Azazel removes his hand before snapping his fingers. “Ice boy,” he says to me. “Hand me that purple potion on the right-hand shelf.  Daken, remove the jacket. It’s too hot for it. If she runs too hot- it will get worse.”

Daken does as he’s told, helping Laura out of her jacket. He brushes some hair back from her face. “You said you’d help her.” He growls.

“And I am.” Azazel snaps. “Ice boy- potion, now.”  

“Ice _man_ ,” I growl, walking to where he directed and pausing. “There are five purple potions,” I note. “Which one do you need?”

“Right. I forgot. The lavender one. Hurry.”

Uh... it’s hard to see in the dark. I pick on up that I think looks lavender and bring it to him.

He takes it and unstops it before looking at it and glaring at me. “I said ‘lavender’,” he growls. “Are you trying to kill this woman?”

“NO!” I say quickly. “No- I’m sorry.”

“Lavender.” He growls. “Go.”  

“It’s hard to tell the different shades,” I say defensively as I rush back to the shelf and pull the other four bottles off, taking them all to him.  “So here.”

He rolls his eyes and rustles through the bottles- picking up the one that would have been my next choice.

“Man is obviously color blind.” He murmurs to himself while unstopping the chosen potion and putting some on his hands before rubbing it on Laura’s stomach. “Strong baby,” He says quietly. “He’s hanging on-”

“He?” Laura asks weakly, picking her head up.

When she does, Daken takes the opportunity to roll her hoodie into a ball and place it behind her.

You can feel his worry rushing off of him.

“He,” Azazel confirms. “Rest.”  He continues to rub the potion into her skin. “He has something about him…. Something that’s prolonging his health,” he says. “It just needs help. How far along are you?”

“Three and a half months.” She says.

“And how long does your kind need to gestate?”

“Uh… nine months?” I offer when Laura fails to answer for herself. "Typical humanoid baby forming time." 

“That’s not the same for every mutant,” he says dismissively. “Depending on who they are who they come from and what their power set is- it could be much shorter.”

“Shorter than nine months?” Laura wheezes.

Azazel nods. “Not anytime soon- it would appear. But a little faster than a human. The fact that he’s grown enough to tell me the sex and get some minor energy readings off him put you a good bit above where a normal human would be.”  

Daken squeezes Laura’s hand. “It’s okay,” he says.

Johnny, Gabby, and I stand motionless. Quiet as the grave.

“Guess we’ll move the baby shower up, then,” Gabby says thoughtfully.

Daken spares a small chuckle.

Laura clutches her stomach- knocking Azazel’s hands away.  

“Green bottle,” He says, flicking his eyes to me. “Same shelf. Top row. Emerald. Third from the hand side.”

That’s much more specific. I find the bottle and bring it to him.

“Drink this,” He says to Luara, taking it in his hands and bringing it to her lips.

“I’m not-”

“The other choice is for your child and possibly yourself to die,” He growls. “Do you want that?”

She jerkily shakes her head.

“Good.”

She hesitates before taking the bottle.

“Girl, you do not understand how little care I have for this child, who is born of Cheyarafim blood- _my sworn enemies_ . I am by no means _obligated_ to save him- our deal, when sliced down, which I am capable of doing since your brother so hastily shook on it- covers you and me making sure the baby is unhurt. If the baby is hurt already and it is endangering you- aborting the pregnancy to save your life is justified. Make no mistake- I am not pleased and care not one way or the other if this child lives or dies,” He growls. “Do what you are told.”

She nods, Taking the bottle in shaking hands and drinking it all. It was a decently sized bottle.

“Lucky for him, his bloodline is diluted,” Azazel says lowly. “Probably won’t have any of those… unflattering features.”

“What- wings?” Johnny asks in amusement.

“Wings, golden hair, sky-blue eyes- enough to make me vomit.” He says. “They get everything so, so easily. But look who’s still around.” he motions to himself. “Self-indulgent murders- all of them.” He hisses. “And _we’re_ the bad guys. Lost more infants to their bloodlust than any other species. But NO we’re the ones to blame.”

“Didn’t you try to take over the world?” I ask.

His eyes flick to me. “I did what everyone in my time was doing. Don’t think they were any better. Don’t think the twins were any better. Or the humans. Or the Atlantians. Or the externals. Not to mention all the ‘otherworldly’ contact that was made at that time. All sorts of creatures and species mucking about trying to claim what they thought was rightfully theirs. My people were just the scapegoat. Easier to blame the most distinguishable of us as evil while everyone else gets a free pass. Those blonde mother fuckers have it coming. Strutting around like they’re god’s gift to man- ‘healing’ the masses. Trying to mask their own bloodlust. They were popular for forcing human women into barring their children. Since their own women were stricken barren.”

That is a unique take on an ‘angelic’ race of mutants.

“Barren?” Johnny asks.

Azazel nods. “All of us were in some extent. We don’t know who did it. We don’t know how they did it. But the bloodlines have greatly diluted themselves. We had to mix humans and other creatures into our fold just to keep ourselves alive.”

“But you have like… over a hundred kids,” I say.

“Mostly males, born of human or mutant mothers.” He agrees. “The curse does not go against men- just our women. You’ll note that there’s not a lot of Neyaphem women running around.” He looks me over cooly. “One less, thanks to you, Ice _man_.”

“I was defending myself,” I growl.

“Like you were _defending yourself_ against Remus?” He asks coldly. “Yes, I see.”

“If your population is so low, and your women can’t have babies- why don’t all of you just leave and go back to our world? See doctors. Get some help.” Gabby says.

Azazel smirks. “The naivety of the innocents.”

“Well?”

“We don’t have enough power to get all us back to earth,” Azazel says. “I make exceptions for myself and others with just cause- but quite frankly- it is exhausting. Besides- a horde of demons would not be well received. I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you the reaction most mortals have upon seeing me.”

“Kurt does it,” Gabby says. “And he’s a hero.”

“Mystique’s boy.” He says fondly. “That was a good match. A good, strong, bloodline. The woman is like none other.”

“Yea.. you could say that,” I mutter.

He glares at me.

“So.. that infertility was against everyone?” I ask, trying to get back on topic. “Not just you?”

“Lupines were hit greatly. Though- they were known for slaughtering their own children when the mood suited them. It’s not like children were exactly _cherished_ under the twins reign.”

It’s like talking to a history book. An unwritten history book.

“The twins?” I ask.

“Romulus and Remus,” Daken says quietly. “Older people refer to them as ‘the twins’ as singling them out by name was seen as a bad omen.”

Azazel nods, not looking at us. “Idiots. Both of them. And the lot that followed them. Killing everything in sight for sport.”

Laura starts to cough, drawing everyone’s attention back to her.

“Laura-” Daken says in a panic, “What’s wrong with her??”  

“That means it’s working. Settle yourself.” Azazel’s eyes flick to him. “She nor the baby will die tonight.”

Everyone lets out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” Daken says quietly.

“I am honor-bound to help save the girl- by my word. I do not take this lightly. It speaks to the graveness of the task you will owe me in return, child,” He says to Daken.

“I understand,” Daken he says, even quieter than his previous statement.  

“No,” Azazel says. “You don’t.” Laura’s breathing grows labored. “But you will. Everything goes in circles. The bill must always be paid. The reaper always takes his catch. The grave always awaits the living. And the living are always blissfully unaware. Unbothered. But you,” He points to Daken, “Have avoided your fate for far too long.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask in fear.

That doesn’t necessarily sound like he wants so to help Daken.

“Hey-”

Daken puts a hand on Gabby’s shoulder, giving her a serious ‘shush’ look.

Azazel raises an eyebrow. “Something to add, little one?”

She shakes her head.

“I mean to say that Daken has avoided his demise time and time again.”

Him saying that makes me all kinds of upset.

“As in…?” Johnny presses.

“His little ‘look I’m alive again’ tricks.” Azazel murmurs, rubbing his hand back over Laura’s stomach. “All of them. Pull that shit far too often. Rumors that his father has also pulled it- yet again. And nether-worldly creatures were so happy to have put Wolverine to rest. And what does he do? He rises. He always rises.” He’s ranting on and on. “All of them. The twins. Who knows how long Remus will stay dead? Lord knows we’ve thought the woman sold her soul in the past.”

I can’t tell if he’s being serious.

“And then there’s The Wolverine and his many spawn who. Can’t. Seem. To. die.” Azazel says, shaking his head. “But that’s neither here nor there- I suppose.”

“My father… is alive?” Daken asks quietly, obviously shocked.

Wow… today is hitting Daken like a ton of bricks.

If we were at home- safe- we’d give him a warm bath and a massage or something. Maybe some ice cream. Shaved ice- is his favorite, actually. And I’m really good at making it.

We don’t have any flavoring but maybe he’d like a little when we got out of here anyway.

We’ve long accepted the possibility of Logan being alive- and by _‘we’_ I mean the x-men, Daken’s still... Unsure.

“Your father is _almost_  alive.” Azazel looks up at him. “Turn her head.”

Daken is motionless, absorbing everything. “What do you mean ‘almost alive’?”

“I mean what I mean. Now turn her head or she will choke,” Azazel growls. “Keep your head where it belongs. Don’t get caught up in other things. Focus on your task.” he’s quiet for a second. “It will be much more beneficial and serve you much longer than your current state.”  

Daken jumps into action, gently arranging Laura’s head a second before she vomits a black tar-like liquid onto the floor. “Laura…” He asks tentatively. “Was that the baby?”

“No, that wasn’t the baby,” Azazel says with an eye-roll. “Your sister was poisoned. That’s what’s left of it. That’s why I focused on her stomach and not other parts of her anatomy. Which I think was very gentlemanly of myself.”

“Yea- thanks for not molesting the dying pregnant woman.” Johnny crosses his arms. “Are you okay, Laura?”

“She’s as good as new.” Azazel wipes his hand on his outfit- some black and gold suit of some sort.

Laura raises her head. “And the baby?” She asks hoarsely.

“He’s fine,” he says. “Strong. If he hadn’t  been- he’d be dead already.”

Laura closes her eyes and nods.

“You need rest,” he tells her. “I don’t know what happened from the time I saw you this morning to the time when you called me-”

“A lot.” Gabby interrupts. “Like you wouldn’t belie-”

“I don’t _care_ .” He growls. “My only goal is to keep you all alive long enough for Daken to repay his debt to me.” he straightens up. “I have extra rooms. You can use them. I’ll have someone be by with food and water. Other than that- I don’t want to see _or_ hear you. Do you understand?”

We all mumble our agreements.

“Rooms are at the end of this hallway.” He nods to the door. “It’s the only side of the hallway that’s lit. Do as you like with them they are not in use. Stay where you are until I come to retrieve you. Do you understand?”

“We understand,” Daken says. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“Don’t thank me just yet,” Azazel mumbles, disappearing again in a puff of smoke.   

“Are you okay?” Daken asks Laura gently as the smoke clears.

She motions him closer.

He leans down far enough for her to smack him on the side of the head. “You made a bargain with the devil!” 

“I had to.” He says stunned.

“You had to? This could have been nothing! The baby obviously has my healing factor- Warren has something akin to it as well- he would have been fine! Do you know what he’s going to make you do??? Have you figured that part out??? Have you thought that far ahead???”

“You were dying.” He says weakly. “I had to do something. I couldn’t…. I couldn’t lose you.”

“So you endanger yourself and everyone else like an idiot??” She snarls.

“Laura-”

She grabs him by the collar. “I love you so much,” She says, weakly, “To see you do something so stupid on my behalf will kill me.” She lets him go.

“I’m sorry.” He says, very quietly. “But Blob was in danger and-”

“And you put his life before yours.” She sighs, pushing sweat-soaked hair from her face. “A wonderful time for you to grow compassion Daken, really.” She says. “I am awed by the progress you’ve made. But this?” She motions around the room. “This is idiotic. What are you going to do if Romulus takes you back- hmm? How are you going to handle that? What do you think he’s going to do to you?? Do you know that he will drive you to the very brink of insanity just to torture you? Do you realize the emotional, physical, and mental pain you’re going to be subjected to? He’s probably going to make you kill Johnny and Bobby. Are you prepared to do that?”

“Laura- ease off,” Johnny says. “He was just trying to help. He panicked.”

“He is in the most danger! Out of all of the people in the room- his life is the one that’s about to be destroyed! And he did it with no intel! He didn’t wait- goddamnit Daken, why didn’t you wait?” She groans the last.”I don’t want to see him get you- do you understand that? None of us do.”  

Daken swallows loudly. “I’m just bait,” He says. “He won’t get me back.”

“But what if he does?” Laura presses.

“I.. will handle it.”

Jonathan scratches at the tile at our feet. A brief interruption of the tense scene at hand.

He could probably do with a walk or something. I doubt there’s anywhere to do so here…. And I just know Azazel’s not going to like a wild animal shitting in his house. Palace? Castle?

Where exactly are we?

There are no windows in this room and we were brought straight here. If it’s the same place I was last time… it would be a castle. But I’m pretty sure that one was destroyed. And we didn’t venture very far to see if there were more buildings.

“And how exactly will you ‘handle’ it?” She presses hotly.  

“Hey, be nice to Daken,” Gabby says. “He’s trying to help! He’s just being a good big brother.”

“Today was not the day for him to do so.” Laura groans. “He is in danger. I can’t even stomach the thought of it. To have him go back to where he was- after all of this. After all he’s already been through... It’s killing me. The thought of what Romulus will do to him is maddening.”

“I’m okay,” Daken says quietly. “I’ll do what has to be done. Azazel is bound by honor to keep everyone safe. I know he’ll hold up his end of the bargain. No one will get hurt. I promise. Everything will be okay.”

None of us believe that.

Something’s not right and everyone can feel it.

I doubt anyone can put a name to the feeling just yet though.

It’s like a sinkhole in the pit of my stomach.

Or vortex.

Something sucking down on the positivity and hope I could possibly have for this situation- stripping me of it.

Despair- I think that’s the closest way I can come to describing it.

I don’t know what will happen. No one knows what will happen. We’re just stuck here in a state of suspension. Waiting.  

I look at Johnny, who’s biting his lip.

We don’t know what to say. Neither of us.

What could I personally say to make him feel better when I’m scared as fuck myself?

We could lose him. The threat was real this morning- and it’s even more likely now.

My thoughts are moving fifty million miles an hour and there’s no way to stop the horrible conclusions I’m jumping to.  

“Johnny, Bobby- please. Talk some sense into him.” She groans.

We stay quiet, looking at each other.

“Please- someone.” She growls. “He’ll listen to you.”

Daken looks back at us expectantly.

The words still don’t come.

“This is dangerous.” She continues.

“We know it is,” Johnny says finally. “And he does too. He did what he thought he had to do in a moment of crisis.”

I nod. “It may not have been the smartest choice- but it’s the one that had to be made. He was doing it to protect you and little Blob. Ease up. He already feels like shit.”

“I’m not trying to berate him- but this has spun from a horrible situation to one that’s completely out of control!” She snaps. “Can no one see why I am upset????? He did this for me! If he is hurt- it will be because of me!” She looks around at us.  

“Laura, I know you’re grumpy because of almost dying,” Gabby says quietly. “But maybe we shouldn’t be doing this right now? They already shook on it. There’s no going back. Right? It’s a done deal. You can’t change it.  And you need to be resting. For Blob.”

Laura closes her cloudy green eyes. “For Blob.” She sighs quietly. “For Blob. You’re right, Gabby.”

“Of course I’m right! Now, let’s go check out our demon rooms!” She says. “That’s something to look forward too- right? Silver lining?”

Johnny and I stare between the Wolverine clan- Daken’s distraught features, Laura’s exhaustion, Gabby’s excitement. They’re really going through it right now.

“Demon rooms,” Gaby repeats. “Come on guys- it’ll be fun! No one’s dying tonight- we can have a little fun right now- right?”

“Right,” Daken says- almost weakly. It puts on a smile but I can tell just how upset he is.

I walk up behind Daken and put my hand on his shoulder. “Hey,”

He looks back at me. “Hey.”

“You need to go to bed,” I say. “We all do. Let’s go check out our demon rooms.”

He nods, wordlessly.

“It was a brave thing you did,” I say gently. “Everyone is really proud of you.”

He nods again.

“But it was really stupid.” I continue. “And you can understand why Laura would be upset.”

“I know,” he says quietly, licking his lips. “And I understand.”

“Let’s get you to bed,” Johnny says, coming up to his other shoulder. “You deserve some downtime. We all do.”  

“I don’t want to leave the girls.” He says.

“We’ll be okay,” Laura says. “I promise. You should go get some sleep.”

“What if something else happens?” He asks anxiously.

“They’ll be in the room right next door,” I say. “They’ll be fine- I promise.”

“Yea, Daken,” Gabby says. “You did some pretty big stuff tonight… you should go sleep it off.” She smiles. “Jonathan and I will take care of Laura!”

Jonathan perks up at his name- making a little ‘brrrp’ purring sound.

Almost like a cat but at a much deeper register. He’s happy to finally have gotten some of Gabby’s attention. She holds his leash dutifully- like she has all day. Even when you’d think she’d been distracted, she knows where he is. I admire that about her. I have a hard time keeping goldfish alive. She’s much better than I am.

Daken looks his little sisters over wearily.

“Something else could happen.” He repeats. “I can’t risk that.”  

“Baby,” I say in his ear. “Come to bed… please? There’s literally nothing more you can do tonight. Let it go.”

There’s just the faintest tremor across his skin before he nods. “You’re right.”

“...now can we go check out our demon rooms?” Gabby asks.

“Yep,” Johnny says. “Let’s add a little bit more weirdness to our night.”

There’s an uneasy laughter that passes through all of us.

We’re trying to let the mood be lightened. It’s just not easy.

Johnny helps Laura off the table, holding onto her until she’s steady on her feet.

Everyone stays quiet- watching her intently.

“I’m okay.” She says. “I can stand. I’m not in pain. I’m not nauseous anymore. Just tired.” She smiles a very tired smile. “I’m-” She puts her hand on her stomach. “We’re okay.”

I can almost feel the relief from the group.

Come to think of it- that might be Daken.

Laura picks up her hoodie and places it under her arms.

After her confirmation that she’s going to be okay, we open the large wooden door and step out into a dimly lit hallway. Stone ceilings, walls, and floors. The stone tiles house a variety of paintings- ancient ones it looks like- and tapestries. All gold and black. Seems to be a theme around here. There are still no windows.

Even without seeing the landscape you get the idea of what it would look like based on the fact that it’s insanely hot.

I can imagine that everyone will be sleeping a little naked tonight.

I feel bad for the girls- I can cool the three of us off. Maybe I can go put some ice in the bedroom or something. Make our own version of an air conditioner.

We make it to the end of the lit hall where there’s a collection of four rooms- two on each side.

Daken opens all the door at the end and inspects it- coming back out with a nod. “It’s safe.”

I don’t know what he was looking for- but hey. He says it’s safe so whatever it was he didn’t find it.  

“Take the one,” I tell the girls. “You’ll be safer if danger comes because they’ll hit us first.”

Laura nods before unexpectedly hugging Daken. “Please be smart.” She says quietly. “Please, please, please.” She pulls away and there are tears on her face. “Please, Daken. Use your head. You’ve opened pandora’s box. You’ve got to be ready to face whatever it is that’s on the inside.”

He nods. “I know.”

“I love you.” She says. “We love you.”

“I love you too.” He says.

Gabby also gives him a hug. “Thanks for getting us out of the cave.” She says. “No matter how you had to do it.”

He rubs her head- messing her hair up. She doesn’t seem to mind. “Go to bed,” he says gently. “Everything will be alright.”

I doubt that.

He looks beaten already.

Laura, Gabby, And Jonathan walk into their room, closing the door all but a crack. Daken reaches over and closes is completely.

He’s rigid and still for a moment before putting his hand on the door to our room and leaning into it, forehead against the wood. There’s the soft sound of…whimpering.

He closed their door so they wouldn’t hear him.

Prideful to a fault our boy is.

“Shh,” Johnny whispers, taking him from behind. “Baby, shh. It’s okay.”

Daken ’s fist balls up and he bangs on the door twice before sinking to his knees.

Johnny’s quick to go with him, cradling and caressing all the way down.

“You’re okay.” He tells him. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out. We’ll figure something out. You don’t have to go back. Okay? You do not have to go back. You’re bait. Azazel said he wouldn’t hurt you.”

Daken nods but doesn’t look at him.

I join them down on the floor, putting my hand on his face- feeling the hot trail of tears.

“Shh.” I soothe. “It’s okay.”

That’s all we can think to tell him.

That’s all I can think to tell him and it’s a lie. This is not okay. None of this is okay.

We’re in hell- both figuratively and literally.

And to think this all started with me calling out of work today.

God- that feels like forever ago.

I rub Daken’s cheek with my thumb. “You’re hot.” I murmur.

“Really?” Johnny scoffs. “Right now?? Bad timing, babe.”

“No- no- no!” I say quickly. “His skin- it’s hot. Not him. I mean- he is. But ya know- not right now. I mean- yea like always but not right-”

Johnny is smiling. “We get it, Elsa.”

“His skin is hot.” I rephrase my statement. “Like he’s running a fever.”

“Well… we are in hell.” Johnny says.

Daken lets out a hysterical laugh.  

“You’re upset,” Johnny says, hugging him tightly. “We should go in the room, baby.” He says. “Can you make it in the room?”

Daken nods- shakily rising to his feet.

He stops in the doorway.

“You gotta open the door babe,” I say gently. “Push.”

His hand hovers at the handle.

“Push, baby,” Johnny says.

It’s like he doesn’t know what to do.

Johnny reaches over him and pushes on the wooden door just as I reach over him and turn the doorknob

The room is small with a large bed- nice for us. It’s lit by a burning fireplace that’s a few feet from the bed and a few candles hanging on the walls.

Johnny nudges Daken over to the bed, pushing his back the black cloth blankets.

I can tell that this room is definitely going to need something to cool it off.

Why would they even think it was remotely okay to put fireplaces in the bedrooms???

Does Azazel not feel the heat?

Or after all this time are they just used to it?

“Undress him,” I tell him. “It’ll get him cooler... And he’s covered in puke.”

Johnny pulls Daken’s shirt over his head, rubbing his shoulders as he does. “Cooler.” He says. “Why don’t you do something to take the temp down?” He asks.

I nod. Going to the side of the room where the window should be and making a giant wall of ice.

In front of it, I make a few smaller icicles that stick up from the floor and down from the ceiling- look like teeth.

“More over here.” Johnny nods to the other side of the room that only houses a light wooden door.

I line the top of the ceiling with ice- just above the door’s hinges- and then blast both sides of the stone wall beside the door. The temperature in the room has dropped about... Oh, I’d say fifteen degrees. Which sounds like it’s a lot but when you take into consideration how hot it actually is, to begin with- it just manages to make it much more comfortable.

“Take off his pants too.” I walk around the room, going to the door, which leads to a really shitty- old-timey- bathroom. Running water- at least- I find as I fiddle with the sink. “There’s a tub in here!” I call to them.

We can get clean.

After a day of riding the car and a late night hike- that is something we very much need to at least consider doing.

“Leave me be,” Daken mumbles. “I’ve ruined everything. Let me sit in my misery.”

I join them back at the bed.

“How have you ruined everything?” I ask.

“He’s going to take me back.” He says. “I’ll lose the girls, I’ll lose the two of you… my life is over. I’m better off dead.”

Johnny and I share a look before Johnny bends down between his knees and kisses him.

“You’re going to be fine.” he says quietly, “hear me? Fine. Azazel swore he wouldn’t hurt you.”

“I’ve delivered us to hell.” Daken puts his hand to his mouth, muffling a series of noises I’ve never heard him make.

“Not hell,” I say. “I’ve been to hell. Froze it. Literally froze hell.” I grin. “This is just a… mockup of hell.”

“You should have let me go to him,” Daken says. “Why did you stop me?”

“Daken- without you, Laura and Blob could have died,” I say. “Gabby and Laura would have still been in trouble. Think past what you’re feeling right now and see the bigger picture.”

“I’ve made you prisoners of war.” He says.

“We’re not prisoners of war.” Johnny soothes. “He can’t hold us here.”

Daken wipes his eyes harshly- trying to clear the tears. “I’m fine.” He says. “Go take your bath.”

“Yea- no,” Johnny says. “This could be our last night together.”

“Johnny-” I hiss. “Don't’.”

“I’m being real,” Johnny says. “I want to spend every second of it pressed against you two. Just in case. We could be fine- we could not be fine. Whatever happens- I want to spend tonight with you two.”

I have to agree.

Johnny strips out of his clothes- out of all of them.

“I want to spend our last night together like we spent our first.” He says in explanation. “If that’s okay?”

I’m cool with it but… I look to Daken- who nods. “I’d like that.” He says.

Johnny holds his hand out to me I strip down before taking it, letting him lead me to the bed.

“I can’t move,” Daken says when we enter. “Someone… just… top me.”

“I’ve got you.” Johnny spreads Daken’s legs gently, inserting two fingers and taking the time to stretch him out

Johnny works him over thoroughly, drawing it out...

I lean down and capture his lips. Remembering the first time he kissed me... and then all the kisses after that. The fact that this may be one of the last ones ties my stomach in a knot.

Johnny lifts Daken's hips a little before slowly entering him.

I don’t bottom or top without lube. It hurts too much. So I keep on making out with him- not really caring that I’m not really a part of the action.

He returns my kiss lazily.

It’s long and deep- meaningful is a better word.

I want Daken to feel how much he means to me… to us. I’m trying to impart it upon him physically- a way he’ll understand more than any other.

He starts to groan into my mouth.

“Too much?” I ask, pulling back.

“Not enough.” He corrects.

I smile, watching him return it ever so slightly. “You really are a greedy brat- you know that?” I tease, stroking the side of his face.

He nods his head.

“As long as you’re aware of it,” I smirk, leaning down and starting to kiss his neck, biting gently at the flesh.

“Let me lift you up a little,” Johnny says. “I need more room to move.”

He lifts Daken up - a little, but Daken raises himself until he’s seated on his lap. Which is far more ‘up’ than Johnny intended. He wraps his arms around Johnny’s neck.

“Not what I had in mind,” Johnny says before kissing him. “But definitely not bad.”

“Shush,” Daken says. “Let me drive.” He starts to grind down on him- as he did me the first time we had sex. I know just how good that feels- we’ve done it many times at this point.

Johnny motions me over and kisses me as well.

I rotate between kissing him and kissing up and down Daken’s back- getting his neck, his shoulders, nipping at his ears- little things to enhance his experience.

It makes me happy to give him pleasure. I’ve never been in a sexual situation where I can actually say that with 100% honesty before.

I’m kinda not getting any below the belt action- but I get the feeling that this is more for Daken than it is for us. And I’m good with that. Completely good with it.

We stay like that for a long time- Daken’s head buried in Johnny’s shoulder- he’s barely moving after about twenty minutes- he was sluggish before- but now it’s just sporadic movements every three minutes or so. I think he’s falling more on the ‘hold me’ side of things right now.  

I stay behind him, saying gentle encouragements, giving light touches, cooling his skin down so he can stay comfortable…. I run through everything I know about him to help him relax.

“This isn’t our last night together I  know it,” I say gently. “You don’t have to finish if you don’t want to.”

Daken makes a small noise of affirmation.

Johnny chuckles. “I haven’t been inside him for the last ten minutes. He hasn’t even noticed.”

That makes me laugh too. “Baby- come here.” I wrap my arms around him. “This isn’t our last night together- okay? I won’t let it be. We took out Remus. We can fix this. Everyone will be safe. I promise.”

“You can’t promise that,” Daken says quietly.

“But I did.” I kiss the back of his neck. “I froze hell once for a friend. Imagine what I’d do for you.”

“I made it through like… four trips to the negative zone.” Johnny says gently. “Died once…. I think we’ll be okay.”

I nod. “And you’ll be okay too,” I say softly. “You’ve been through hell before- but you’re not alone this time. You don’t have to be alone this time. We’ve got you. We’re not letting go.”

He exhales slowly but doesn’t say anything.

“We’ve got to talk about this knowing how to summon demons thing though.” I joke. “We should put that under the ‘do not do’ list.”

He laughs abruptly.

“You’ve got so much to look forward to,” I say gently. “You’ve got so much to live for. So many people who care about you.”

“And you’re going to have a nephew,” Johnny says. “How exciting is that?”

“My father’s back.” He says. “Romulus is back. There’s going to be a war. My sister and my nephew almost died. There’s a country-wide manhunt that we’ve had to go to another dimension to escape.”

“And think of what a fucking story this will be when it’s over!” I try to find the silver lining.

“Heh.” Johnny laughs after a second. “It’s probably Halloween now.”

“What?” Daken asks in confusion.

“Halloween,” Johnny says. “We’re spending Halloween with the closest thing we’re hopefully ever going to come to seeing actual demons. That’s a hell of a story right there in of itself.”

“And Gabby’s enjoying the hell out of all this.” I joke. “She’s having experiences that most kids wouldn't dream of.”

“Too bad it could have gotten her killed,” Daken says lowly.

“That’s the risk you take on adventures,” I tell him, rubbing his shoulder.

The fire in the fireplace is burning low and the candles are almost completely melted.

I watch the dark shadows play off of my lovers' bodies. And feel the added coolness that the absence of the flames brings.

“We love you,” I tell him.

“‘We’?” he smiles.

I nod. “We.”

“I love you too.” He says, relaxing into our embrace.

“This isn’t over,” I tell him. “I promise.”

I don’t know how to keep that promise- but I’m sure as fuck going to try.

I’ve got a really good thing going for me right here. I’ve come to love it. I’ve come to love them.

All the things I was missing in life- they gave to me.

They help me through all my hangups… and just make me comfortable in my skin.

I can’t thank them enough that.

Daken’s breathing is soft and even- meaning he’s gone to sleep. I kiss the back of his head while Johnny ever so gently pushes him off of his lap and to the pillows.

He lays on Daken’s one side, leaving me room to plop down on the other.

I take his hand over Daken’s head, holding it.

We can’t really talk without waking Daken up- and I don’t want to put any more dark thoughts in his head- but I can almost feel what Johnny’s thinking- I see it in his face, in his posture.

We need to protect what we have.

All that we have.

At any and every cost.

Even though we told Daken tonight wasn’t our last together- it may very well be just that. And that’s something we’ve got to plan for.

Plan for and prevent.

I would move heaven and hell for them. Both of them.

Having one without the other just doesn’t feel right.

And I will do anything and everything to keep them safe.

Looking at Johnny’s face- into his eyes- I know that he will too.

And with the two of us on the case- even if Daken’s not on board yet- we will succeed.

There is nothing in this world or any other that can stop us.


	7. I don't like green eggs and I don't like this deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -weird food  
> -tense situations 
> 
> I can't really give much away up here without giving the chapter away but there is nothing really triggering. Some minor hints at abuse and violence. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> If you don't mind and you're so obliged, please leave a comment or a kudos to tell me how it's going!

I guess it’s morning. I guess. I feel like it should be- at any rate.

I mean- I’m awake and I feel decently rested, all things considered.

My night in ‘hell’ wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

The light hasn’t really changed due to there being no windows- but there’s a tray of food that we found outside our door that’s relatively warm. So I’m going to side with ‘morning’.

All my ice has melted. I haven’t made anymore because I get the feeling that we won’t be in this room much longer.

If I’m wrong- I’ll just refreeze everything.

“I don’t know what this is.” Johnny pokes at an almost egg-like substance.

It’s green and runny- kinda like sunny side up but definitely not the right color.

Maybe they have weird birds here? Who knows? We haven’t really done much recon. Not enough to know what kind of animals they have here- at any rate.

I guess we just sorta resigned ourselves to the ‘stay where I put you’ rule Azazel gave us.

I hold some sort of thinly sliced bread- it looks a bit toasted.

The grain on the bread is weird and the coloring is almost black. Not burnt- no I think this is how it’s supposed to look.

Both the green shit and the bread is covered in this almost pepper like spice- almost making it inedible. I know Johnny well enough to know that he’s going to be polite and try to eat it, but that there’s no way in hell (ha) that he’s actually going to finish his plate.

He’s a bit picky.

“Eggs and toast?” I offer- poking at my ‘eggs’ and making them run even more.

It at least looks like an attempt at the earth meal.

I mean- the Neyaphem were originally from earth- right? Just about...two thousand years ago? They should at least know what foods were eaten on earth- right?

Azazel seems pretty modern- He’s made many trips to earth ( as evidenced by his many children). He at least should know modern meals.

I take another moment to wonder where the fuck we actually are. In another dimension- cut off from our reality. Up, down, sideways, lost in the universe? Interdimensional travel always throws me from a loop. Thing is- we’re not home. We’re not in our reality.

Not that our reality was going too well for us when we left.

There’s no limit to where Romulus can reach- I know that in theory. Daken’s told me that a million times. But knowing it in theory and seeing it, in fact, are two completely different things.  
He turned our government against us in a day. He infiltrated our Government agencies- some of the highest ones- in a day. Just to get what he wants.

And they caved.

How safe I feel knowing they caved so quickly.

How safe we should all feel.

The situation of his ever-growing reach has even made me… cautious to be here. If he can get us on earth and he has contact with Azazel- who’s to say he can’t get us here, too?

How many people does he have in his pocket? Who means us harm?

I feel like shit knowing that these are questions Daken’s been asking himself for his entire adult life. Who can I trust? Where can I go? What can I do?

Where is he?

Constantly questioning.

I wish I could have saved him from this.

I mean- I can. By taking down Romulus I free him.

But that would mean killing someone else. And I’m not sure I’m too cool with that.

I mean- I want Daken safe- I do.

But to take this man’s life in cold blood -Ha. Second ice pun. I’m really slipping today. I must be more tired than I thought was- to take his life in cold blood…. after I already killed his sister? That’s wiping an entire family off the face of the planet.

I don’t know. I feel weird about it.

Like I’ve spilled enough blood for one lifetime.

I’ll figure it out. I won’t worry Daken and Johnny with it right now. Johnny is hellbent on protecting Daken and Daken is hellbent on just surviving.

How can I burden them with my own personal crisis at a moment like this?

I watch Daken poke around at his food being just as picky as Johnny is-which isn’t like him at all.

That’s really saying something as to the strangeness of the food- Daken’s always the most adventurous eater out of the three of us. If he thinks it’s shady- it must be really shady.

In the background- the sound of music drifts through the air. 80’s and 90’s rock. Smooth, quiet, and loud- in varying order.

Our phones are mostly dead and basically musical bricks right now. No wifi plus no cell towers equal no service.

Daken’s really anal about downloading all of his music to his phone though so we’ve at least had that. Sadly- his phone is on its last two percent. We won’t have it for much longer.

The last notes of some sad guitar ring through the air before the phone freezes and then powers off.

“Guess it’s no use asking if he has an outlet.” I joke.

Johnny grins, poking at the not eggs.

Daken sighs and pulls closer to us. “I don’t know what’s going to happen today,” he admits. “But I want the two of you to stay here.”

“Daken-”

“Don’t start, Bobby,” he says, taking my hand. “Stay here. Stay safe. Both of you- please.”

I look at Johnny who shares my obvious ‘that’s not going to happen’ look.

“Seriously,” Daken says. “Stay here.”

“If you think-”

There’s a knock on the door- a loud one.

He raises to his feet- stripped to his boxers and goes to the door, opening it a crack.

“Wear this.” Azazel’s voice demands as a stack of clothing is pushed through the crack.

“Thanks.” Daken takes the large bundle.

“One set for each of you- shoes included. You sisters have also received theirs. Yours is the black the others can choose whatever color they so please.”

Why… why is Daken being assigned clothing?

Is it for some magic purpose?

Maybe it’s enchanted to keep him safe!

Yes- that makes sense.

“Laura’s outfit-”

“I’ve taken into account the pregnancy.” Azazel shushes. “Hurry and change. I need to see all of you in my war room.”

Daken nods. “How do we find it?”

“Follow the torches,” Azazel says dryly- as if that were common knowledge- before he disappears into a puff of sulfuric smoke.

Daken closes the door and brings the large bundle over to us. “Showtime,” he says numbly, starting to sort through the clothes.

The first thing I see is Black and gold- again.

The other colors are a little brighter- blue and green.

I’m betting Johnny’s going to take the blue. I don’t mind green and I know him well enough to know that’s there’s about a 65% chance that’s what is going to happen.

Daken starts dressing without another word.

I watch him- mind blown.

“Wow,” I say, looking at him.

“What?” He asks distractedly- adjusting his leather-like shirt. It’s tight, it’s form-fitting, it’s got this awesome golden hood on it- he looks like something out of video game.

“You look amazing,” I say with a grin.

“Like a video game.” Johnny gets my thoughts exactly.

“Shush.”He smiles as he adjusts the one-sided sleeve- the arm that’s left unsleeved is the one with his tattoo. It matches the leather perfectly.

“Are our suits as nice as that?” Johnny asks, pushing aside his untouched plate and ruffling through the rest of the clothes on the bed. “OH, I want blue.” He picks up the blue suit and starts to pull it over his head. His is.. Nice.. but it’s not as nice as Daken’s. Both his arms are covered and it fits a little looser than Daken’s. He frowns when he looks down. “Daken looks like a snack.” He murmurs. “I look like a crumb.”

“A tasty crumb,” Daken says- adjusting the belt he’s been given around his waist.

“Bobby- put yours on,” Johnny says.

The only one left is green. I’m partial to green but I prefer blue.

Mine fits a lot looser than Daken’s- but it’s comfortable. Both my arms are covered as well as well as my neck. “I wonder what these are designed for?” I ponder, pulling a pair of matching green boots off of the bed and starting to put them on.

“Who cares?” Johnny smirks, taking his blue boots as well. “I think you look hot.”

“You both look hot.” Daken agrees.

His is the only suit with two colors. The edges are done in gold as well as an interesting pattern running up his back and down the sides of his boots.

“I kinda feel like he’s dressing you up,” I admit- lacing my boots.

“Romulus has to take the bait,” Daken says simply.

He waits until all boots are laced and nods to us. “Let’s go check on the-”

Before he can finish our door is burst open- admitting one very excited Gabby.

“Demon clothes!” She calls- turning in a circle to show off her purple outfit- unlike ours, her’s is made of cloth- not leather.

“Cute.” Johnny laughs.

“But- wait- there’s more!” She reaches behind her and pulls her hood down. “How cool is this?”

“Very cool,” Daken says with a smirk.

“I’m glad you think so.” Laura grosses from the doorway. She’s dressed in a very low cut gown. It’s non-constrictive so there’s room for her growing stomach.

“What are you wearing??” Daken laughs.

“Azazel’s people have special clothing designed for pregnant women.” She huffs.

“You look really pretty- so shush,” Gabby says.

Laura’s gown is a royal purple and black- kinda laced in the back like a corset.

“We should take a picture and send it to Warren!” Gabby is so fucking excited.

“We will absolutely not do that,” Laura growls.

Jonathan comes trotting in behind them, wearing a different colored collar and leash.

“Even Jonathan got new clothes!” Gabby says happily.

Laura hikes her skirt- and it is a voluminous one- and bends down to adjust her sandals that are strapped up her legs to her thighs.

“I’m glad we’re all dressed,” Daken says. “Now we can make our way to the throne room.” he holds his hands out to me and Johnny- which we take.

We all make out way into the hallway- following the brightly lit torches to the center of the castle.

Along the way we see several more paintings- all of the historical scenes that my kids would love to see- and several more people- all of various shades of color, all dressed similarly to us. A few women are dressed in gowns comparable to Laura’s. I guess they’re pregnant too. Azazel said his race was stricken barren.I guess he's found ways around that. The woman look sickly- though. Almost every single one of them.   
  
We pass one that looks so thin- yet so big- her green skin is flawless but she deep emerald circles under her eyes. She sees us looking at stares until her eyes fall on Laura and her gaze softens. Pregnant women like to stick together- I guess. Even if they're from different dimensions. 

We stop outside a large room with two enormous doors- gold is inlaid into some black obsidian-like stone- done in swirls and loops.

Daken looks at us before inhaling deeply and pushing the door open.

The room consists of a large table with a collection of maps on it, several large high backed chairs, standing torches, and a row of windows behind the table. Azazel sits at the head of the table in the largest chair in the room- alone.

He motions to the table when we enter. “Take a seat,” he says. “No one else will be joining us.”

We share a communal look before heading to the table. Johnny, Daken, and I on one side and the girls on the other.

Azazel takes a sip from a large golden goblet. “Now,” he says, putting it down, “This war that’s coming will encompass all of North America in the next week or so- several different battles being fought simultaneously. I imagine the US and Canadian  Governments are going to get involved as soon as the violence starts. That will make it more hazardous. Romulus is mobilizing troops- people who owe him favors, governments under his employee- his reach is unquestionable and everlasting. To put a stop to him- we lure him into one place and attack while his guard is down. He’ll expect the two of you to come if I deliver Daken to him- he’s instructed me to fit you with power inhibitors. What he doesn’t know is that those inhibitors are faulty. On my command- you will freeze and shatter him like you did his sister.” He tents his fingers in front of him. “The attack will come after he has Daken in his grasps. The blasts should take care of the problem. When he’s disposed of, we call off the attacks and-”

“Where do your people fit into this?” I interrupt him.

“Excuse me?” He glares at me as if he's not used to be interrupted. 

“You. Where do you fit in? Aren’t you going to war too?” I ask. 

“To stop him.” He growls. “ _IF_ he is stopped before the battle begins- there will be no battle. Keep up, please Ice _boy._ ”

“Ice _MAN_ ,” I growl. “And I am. Something seems off.”

“Are you insinuating that I’m being dishonest? In my own home? At my own table?”

I frown. “Look- you said you wouldn’t hurt Daken.”

Azazel motions to him. “And he is unhurt- isn’t he?”

“What if this goes wrong?” I press.

“Then we’ll handle it.” He growls.

“What’s your backup plan?” Johnny asks, speaking up for the first time since we sat down. "What plans to do in place to keep Daken safe." 

Azazel leans back in his seat. “There isn’t one.” He says after a moment.

“So.. that’s our only shot?”

“You only get one shot,” Daken says quietly. “If Romulus suspects that Azazel is plotting against him- he will not show. We won’t be able to drive him out. If we miss when we meet him- he will go back underground and we won’t be able to flush him out.” he’s looking at the table when he says this. "I don't like using them." He says to Azazel. "Is there another way? I was hoping to keep them here."   
  
"Well, Daken, I think that decision belong to them- don't you?" 

"They will make the wrong choice if left up to-"   
  
"We're coming." Johnny says. "You can't make us stay." 

"There are no guidelines to keep  _me_ safe. How are we supposed to makes sure you're safe if we don't even know if I am?" 

"That's a chance we're willing to take." I say. 

Daken shakes his head. 

"Regardless of whether you want them to attend or not- they're our only choice. The pact that binds me to Romulus doesn't allow me to hurt him." 

Something seems off about that. 

Like it's a half truth. 

“Fuck,” Gabby says.

Everyone looks at her.

“What?” She asks innocently. “It was called for!”

Johnny shrugs. I mean- she’s got a point. "I guess it was called for." 

“Where do we fit in?” Laura asks.

Azazel looks her over for a moment. “You don’t.” He says. “If he fails to retrieve Daken and the two of you are there- he may very well settle his losses and take one of you instead... I am honor bound to protect you. I can’t allow that to happen.”

“That’s not-”

“Ms. Kinney- do you know what he would do to your unborn child should he gain access to it?”

Laura puts her hand on her stomach. "No." She says.

Azazel motions to Daken. “The same thing he did to him. And trust me when I tell you- that is a life that no child should have to live. Not if it can be stopped.”

“So we’ve got one plan and if it goes wrong we could lose Daken or lose Romulus?” Gabby asks.

“Yes,” Azazel says.

“And that’s it- that’s you’re master plan?”

“Yes.” He repeats. “It’s all we’ve got.”

“Have you already arranged the meeting?” Daken asks.

“In an hour in the Grand Central Station. The place has been cleared out as per his orders. Daken will be cuffed and loaded into a train headed to an undisclosed location. When he’s put in the train- the second his feet hit the floor- Johnny and Bobby will blast Romulus.”

“And what will you do?” Laura asks.

“I can’t raise a hand to him,” Azazel says.

“Then what were you going to do during the war?” Gabby asks.

“Have my soldiers carry out my orders.” He says simply.

She nods. “Yea okay. That checks out.”

“The angels will be harder to calm,” Azazel says. “It appears he’s kidnapped three of the heads of their royal bloodlines.”

“Fuck,” Johnny says.

“Several notable Atlantians have gone missing as well.” He says. “Right before several of the Shi’ar royal family-”

“Wait- wait- wait!” I say quickly. “The Shi’ar are involved?”

Azazel looks me over. “Did I not mention that before?”

“No- you didn’t!” My mind is spinning quickly.

“Do you have ties-”

“A LOT of ties.” I turn to Daken and Johnny. “The kids- my friends- they’re in his reach.”

Daken puts his hand on my shoulder. “Johnny- the WORLD is in his reach. It’s okay. We’ll save them.”

“Save who?” Azazel asks.

“The x-men took their students to stay with the Shi’ar when Romulus attacked their school,” Johnny says, taking my hand. Daken takes my other one.

“Ah. I see.” Azazel straightens his posture. “There have been no casualties as of yet and someone would certainly have reported of a mass of school children were murdered. I think it is safe to assume that for the time being- they are safe.” He pauses. “This does make the message I received from my offspring make much more sense though.”

Offspring- “Kurt messaged you?”

“Asking for a favor.” Azazel nods. “I suppose it has something to do with-”

“Take them in,” I say quickly.

“What?” He asks in confusion.

“The kids- my friends- bring them here. If anything goes wrong they can help you stop this war. The kids will be safe. My friends will be safe- please- take them here.”

“You want to cut a deal?” He asks slyly.

“I want you to be a decent father for once in your life and help your child.”

Azazel wears a scowl. “I will consider it.”

“If anything happens to Daken- they are your best bet at driving Romulus back out.”

Azazel scratches his chin and sighs. “I will talk to Kurt. See what deal can be made.”

“He’s not going to make a deal with you. You should be honor bound as his parent to help him in a time of crisis.”

“Robert I have over a hundred children. If I stepped in to help every time they were in trouble I would get nothing else done. I am not bound to them the same as an earth parent is. I made them for a purpose that has since passed. I owe them nothing. They owe _me_ their very existences. If _anyone_ should be doing favors- _they_ should be performing them for _ME_.”

“I want to make an amendment to our deal,” Daken says. “A clause. If something happens to me-you take the x-men in and are honor bound to not hurt them or let them be hurt. This will be to your benefit as they will help you win the war. This will be to my benefit as they will help Johnny, Bobby, Laura, and Gabby move on from losing me.”

“Daken-”

“It’s a deal,” Azazel says.

“Daken, honey, no.” Johnny soothes. “This isn’t going to go bad. You don’t have to make that deal.”

Daken leans over and shakes Azazel’s hand.

“It’s done,” Azazel says. “Now- if you don’t mind- we’ve got to get moving.” He waves his hand and summons to power inhibitor collars. “Try them on.”

Johnny and I hesitantly strap them around our necks. Once they click in place- they don’t come off.

“Hey-”

“I have the key.” Azazel shushes. “You can’t be pulling them off. He’ll probably check to see that they’re locked. Try your powers.”

I summon a small bit of ice, making a small cube on the table.

“A bigger display of power if you will Mr.Drake,” Azazel says dryly. “Unless you want to throw ice cubes at him. Then by all means…”

I blast the side of the room- covering a wall with ice.

“Good.”

I’m actually happy that the power inhibitors don’t work- he’s been completely honest. That makes me feel better.

“Mr. Storm?”

Johnny blasts the ice- melting it within seconds.

“Good.”

Azazel stands from his chair. “Ladies- we’ll be back in an hour. Please go about your business.” He motions to the doors as they open to show a blue woman with large wings. “Jillian will show you around. Should you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

Laura looks cautiously at Daken. “Be careful.” She says. “I love you.”

“I love you too, both of you. I promise to be careful.”

“And… kick some bad guy ass.” Gabby says- sounding sad. I hate that sound on her.

Azazel walks to Daken- putting a third, more slender collar around his neck before summoning a large pair of cuffs. “Give me your hands.” He says quietly.

Daken always himself to be chained, closing his eyes so as not to look.

Johnny leans over and kisses his cheek. “It’s okay.” he soothes. “You’re okay.”

I run my hand up his arm- just short of where the cuffs start. “We’ll be done in an hour,” I tell him. “Then we can take these off.”

“Try to extend your claws,” Azazel says.

Daken nods. “They won’t extend.”

“Good.” He motions for us to stand. “Hold on.”

We take a hand- grabbing Daken’s arms. Azazel barely touching my shoulder before we’re gone in a puff of smoke.

We rematerialize in grand central station- the large clock in the center of the large entrance telling us that it’s barely eleven.

“Fuck. We’re late.” Azazel growls, taking Daken by the shoulder and leading him towards where I know the tracks are.

The man I know to be Romulus is standing by a lone train. He’s large- larger than I thought he was, Gray hair pulled on his head with black stripes hanging near his face. Dressed in a very… discomforting outfit of a bare chest with pants that have some sort of skull on one knee.

I can almost hear Daken’s heart stop.

“As agreed,” Azazel says as we approach. "Your boy." 

“I have to admit I’m surprised.” Romulus has a muddled accent but his words are clear. “The great Azazel bending to will when he swore he never would again. It's... charming.”

“You gave me no choice,” Azazel says quietly."Now give me what is mine." 

Romulus nods. “Put the boy on the train.”

Azazel pushes Daken to the large oddly looking train- not a normal one that runs through here- not a subway cart. An actual train. Daken’s placed inside- I can see the panic on his face.

It’s showtime.

I go to summon my powers- as discussed- but they don’t come. I try again- frantically.

“Johnny- something’s wrong.” I hiss.

I see his look of panic. “The collars- they’re working!” He hisses- going to his neck and trying to pry his off. It won’t budge.

I try too- but receive the same result.

“It’s not working.” I say, louder.

Daken’s look of panic grows before someone- someone we can’t see- pulls him out of the line of site.

“Azazel what is going on here!??” I demand.

He looks at me wearily before turning back to Romulus. “Where is she?” Azazel asks.

‘She’??”

Romulus steps to the side- showing a crumbled woman on the floor. Blue skin- yellow eyes- holy fuck.

“That’s Mystique.” I hiss.

Oh god. They took something from him. And he mentioned Mystique last night. Romulus took Mystique and Azazel is trading Daken to get her back!

Azazel goes to her. “If you hurt her-” He says.

“No more than what she what she asked for,” Romulus says dismissively. “Did the girl survive?”

“The poison was potent but easily removed.” Azazel says distractedly. 

“As yours always are,” Romulus says. “Keep her alive. I feel that her infant son could come of great use.”

Azazel takes Mystique into his arms.

“You… you poisoned Laura?” I ask in disbelief.

He nods. “I had too, Bobby. You don’t know what’s on the line,”

“And-” I turn to the tracks quickly as everything falls into place in my mind. “It’s a setup!” I yell. “Daken- Run! Please run!”

The doors snap closed- he doesn’t reappear in the window.

“There’s an old acquaintance of his on the inside- a teacher of sorts- he couldn’t run if he wanted to,” Romulus says smugly. “And believe me, if it helps your ego- he wants to.”

Mystique groans in Azazel’s arms.

“Congratulations on the child,” Romulus says. “May it fair you better than your first.”

The… Mystique is pregnant.

That’s what’s on the line. That’s why Azazel had the materials necessary to save a pregnant woman from poison!

“You son of a bitch!” I charge him but as soon as I’m within striking distance- he grabs me by the neck and flings me across the room. Johnny tries after me and ends up with the same result- sprawled a few feet from me.

“So pitiful.” He laughs. “Did you honestly think you could save him?? He belongs to me. And he will always come home- whether he wants to or not.”

“Let him go.” Johnny snarls. “Or I will torch you-”

“Do you know how easy it is to get to space at the moment?” Romulus asks- off topic.

Johnny is silent.

“Do you know how easy it is to track distress signals and relays of messages from space craft?”

“What are you talking about?” he growls.

Romulus leans over slightly. “I’m saying that if you want to see your sister alive again- you’ll stay out of this.”

“You mother fucker!” He rushes him again before getting tossed into the wall.

“Calm yourselves,” Romulus says. “The time will come for us to have a talk about what you did to my sister. You are lucky that time is not at hand at the moment.”

“You-” I get up and run again, but suddenly feel weak, unable to land a single punch. Unable to move from the ground when I fall.

“Azazel is very talented at poisons,” Romulus explains. “It is unwise to eat or drink anything he gives you.” Romulus nods to him. “I suspect you’ll want to take your place amongst the battlefield. Make no mistake- should you choose to- you are my enemy. And you will be dealt with accordingly. I’d hate for another one of your bastards to be an orphan.” Romulus goes to a different part of the train and the horn blares and the train starts slowly moving. “Enjoy your freedom while it lasts- heroes,” he says in parting, stepping on the train and shutting the door.

I’m sunk on the floor- barely seeing straight. “What- what happened?” I ask weakly.

“Come.” Azazel is over me. “The poisons not deadly.”

“You said you wouldn’t hurt him!” I say- my words slurring.

“I didn’t.” He says. “I never laid a hand on him.” He wraps his tail around my hand. “Grab Johnny.”

“Why did you do this..?” I feel tears on my face. “How could you do this?”

“You two of all people should know what lengths you’ll go through to save the one you love.” He says. “Come. I’ll reverse the poison and go save the children.”

“So you can kill them off?”

“I’m honor bound.” He says. “I take it very seriously.”

“Like you were with Daken??” My world is fading around the edges.

“I never broke my word. I didn’t hurt him. I’m keeping my word in making sure neither of you are hurt- either. So come. Grab Johnny. We have work to do.”

I weakly brush his hand- he’s unconscious- I don’t know what to do.

We disappear just as my vision blacks out.


	8. I'm in a dungeon, I'm in a mall, I'm fighting for man and mutant kind alike

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY so chapter triggers are 
> 
> -dungeons  
> -talk of torture  
> -talk of death  
> -fighting (canonically violent)  
> -choking  
> -mentioned torture- again.  
> -child endangerment  
> -necromancy  
> -war  
> -and Romulus being a dick (which should be a tag unto itself) 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!  
> If you wouldn't mind, feedback really helps me keep going. It's about time for me to do the monthly massive update I did last month, and telling me which story to go with is a major step in the right direction as far as motivating me to actually do it!  
> So If you wouldn't mind, leave a comments or a kudos or just tell me what you think. (Absolutely no pressure though!)  
> Thank you again and please enjoy!

Sadness is not a feeling I deal with well. 

This? This isn’t sadness. It’s despair. It’s rage. It’s hopelessness. It’s both wanting to give up and wanting to fight harder at the same time. 

...And I don’t know how to process ANY of it. 

Everything happened so fast. My head’s still spinning. 

The only thing that’s really sticking out is that I only have one set of hands to hold. I didn’t know a relationship with two people could feel so… lonely. Not that I don’t love Johnny- of course not. It’s just… we miss Daken. The thought of what he’s going through right now is driving me crazy. I didn’t get to tell him goodbye. Not really. 

I didn’t tell him I loved him this morning. 

He went into his own hell not knowing how much he meant to me. 

At least that’s what happened in my mind. 

Johnny and I aren’t the only ones reeling from this. 

When we came back to Azazel’s dimension without their brother and with a new person- they knew what was up. I think Laura only refrained from killing Mystique because the woman was already half dead and very, very, very pregnant. 

Azazel maintained that we would understand. That we SHOULD understand. That he was still going to keep his word. That he never lied. 

And it sucks but what can we do about that? 

I feel like we’re in the middle of some kind of chess game and none of us know how to play. 

We don’t- but we gotta figure it fucking quickly. It’s going to take all of us working together. 

We have to get back to our world, stop this war, and save Daken all at once. 

But… how the hell are we going to flush Romulus out again? He only came to us because he wanted Daken. Now he has Daken and we have no incentive for him. No bait. 

Oh god. We didn’t use Daken as bait. We handed him right over. Right over to the fucking crocodile who’s going to swallow him whole. 

I hope he went easily. That he didn’t put himself in more pain than he had to be in. 

I know that’s not the case. I know it. 

He would have gone down fighting tooth and nail. 

That’s our boy. That’s what he would have done. He would have made us proud. 

Laura’s head lays on my shoulder. She hides it well, but I can the slight sniffling. All she wanted was for her brother to be safe. She feels like this is her fault. 

It’s not. Not at all and no one thinks it is. 

Daken made the choice to make the deal with Azazel. 

As much as it pains me to even think- he’s the one who didn’t hammer out the details. 

Objectively whatever happened is something he brought on himself because he failed to follow the protocol in summoning a demon. 

But that’s just objectively. 

I don’t want to think objectively. 

My brain can’t get that far. I’m stuck in my emotions. 

Johnny’s no better. If one of us doesn’t get a hold on it quick- we may as well kiss him goodbye forever because we will not be able to save him. 

Logic's never been my strong suit. Not when it comes to things like this. 

I know if one of us doesn’t step up- it will fall on the girls. 

Their family is good at it. Compartmentalizing. Taking hit after hit and still going. 

Laura’s tears are hot on my skin and she’s shivering. 

I don’t know if it’s her laying against me and some of my power making it through the collar or it’s just because the dungeon is drafty. 

Whichever one it may be, we’ve got to get her warm. Soon. 

Johnny is up pacing the entire length on the cell- walking in one huge rectangle. 

“He threw us in the dungeon???” He rages. 

“For safekeeping! That’s better right? He’s not going to hurt us and...” Gabby is quiet for a moment even she can’t find a way to turn this into a positive. “And you punched him in the face…. A lot.” 

“And I’ll punch him even more!” Johnny snarls. 

There’s my lovable hothead. 

“Calm down,” Laura says lowly. “No one’s getting out of here until you do.” 

“She’s got a point, dear,” I say. “Calm down. We need to get Laura and Gabby out of here.” 

“I will not calm down!” Johnny growls. “We got played. Majorly played. And we fell for hook line and sinker!” 

Laura raises her head from my shoulder. “It’s not like we didn’t entertain the possibility that something would go wrong.” 

“Who’s side are you on, Laura?” Johnny hisses, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I’m on all of our sides.” She growls, putting a hand on her stomach. “Please- stop pacing, stop raging, and think. We can’t solve anything down here.” She motions around to the stone room. There are chains on the wall- but none of us are chained. 

“Excellent point, Laura.” Azazel’s voice says from outside of the cell- through the barred door, we see him. “If you can calm down- you can come out. You are not prisoners.” 

“You could have fooled me.” Johnny grouses. 

“If you would stop assaulting me, we could actually get something done.” He crosses his arms. 

“You betrayed us,” Johnny growls. “We can’t trust you.” 

“I betrayed you with a purpose.” Azazel rolls his eyes. “There’s a difference.” 

“You traded Daken’s life for someone else’s!” 

“Yes, I did. My lover’s. Who is pregnant with my child.” He says coldly. 

“You don’t care for your children,” I growl. “You said it yourself.” 

“I care when I am romantically involved with their mother’s.” He growls. “As proved by the fact that Raven and I have a first child and are having a second, I love her. I want her safe. Romulus took her days ago. He tortured her. I’ve just spent the last two hours making sure our baby didn’t die.” 

I inhale deeply. “Let us out,” I say. “I’ll contain Johnny.” 

“And take these collars off of us.” Johnny snarls. 

“The collars are nonfunctional in this dimension,” Azazel says in confusion. “I thought you would have removed them yourselves.” 

“OH, that makes sense!!!” Johnny snarls in exasperation. 

I put my finger to my neck and freeze mine- making it brittle and breakable before yanking it off. 

“You really should have tried to use your powers when my people took you to the dungeon,” Azazel says with an eye-roll. “What is wrong with you?” 

Johnny glares at him and torches his collar- melting it. 

“If you promise to behave- I’ll let you out,” Azazel says. “I’m sure Laura would like somewhere comfortable to sit- in the very least.” 

We all look at her and she nods.  
“Besides- We have to bring the x-children here. I’ll need your help, Mr. Drake, in making sure everyone is accounted for. 

Fuck. 

I nod. 

The large door opens. 

We all stand to our feet and head out one by one. 

Johnny’s the last one out and he makes sure to punch Azazel in the shoulder- hard- as he’s leaving. 

“Johnny…” I groan. 

“I suppose I had that one coming,” Azazel says. “But you only get one.” 

“And I think I used it very wisely,” Johnny says smugly. 

“Wait does only Johnny get a punch or do we all get a punch?” Gabby asks.

Azazel sighs, rolling his eyes. “Follow me.” 

We silently fall into line behind him, following him up to the war room again. This time we have company. Mystique sits at the table, quite round. 

“Raven, our guests.” He introduces. 

“Yes, we’ve met.” She says somewhat cooly. 

Azazel walks to his chair as we all find ours. “Now, we talk about getting Daken back,” He says. 

That… shocks me. “Really…? You’re going to help us??” 

“I’d look like a bit of a dick if I didn’t.” He says. “I’m not completely evil.” 

I glare at Johnny- daring him to say something. 

He opens his mouth but then sees my face and shuts it. 

“So- Romulus has an army attacking Washington DC tomorrow morning or late tonight. The reports were quite muddled.” 

“Why’s he attacking Washington?” I ask. 

“So he can get the humans hating the mutants. Stirring up more drama and drawing everyone into conflict- leaving choice areas with little to no protection. It’s a very valid strategy.” 

“Okay so.. What do we do?” Johnny asks. 

“If we can confront him- capture some of his lieutenants- they might tell us where he’s keeping Daken.” 

That’s.. Not a terrible plan. 

“Granted that whatever he’s doing to Daken might make the man a little harder to help.” 

I take an uneven breath. “Is there any way we can find out what he’s doing to him?” 

“His instruments are numerous and horrific,” Mystique says quietly. “I was only there for a few days and saw ten people die. If you don’t move fast- there won’t be anything left of him.” 

“Fuck.” Laura hisses. 

“The people he’s taken- did you see them?” I ask. 

“The Atlantians were deprived of water and food and died.” She says in thought. “The Shi’ar were still alive- but barely. And the angels well…. One is alive. And he has his sights on another.” She eyes Laura. “One you might find problematic.” 

“Warren?” Laura asks. 

Mystique nods. “We need to move fast.” 

“We can start by retrieving the X-men,” Azazel says. “The more power we have the better our chances.” He turns to Laura. “And there’s something special I want you and your sister to do.” 

“Oh?” 

He nods. “Find your father.” 

“Oh.” She says, green eyes wide. 

Azazel nods again. “Having Wolverine on our side would be a major factor in us winning. Romulus doesn’t know he’s alive. If we find him first- we can turn the tides in our favor.” 

Everyone is quiet. 

“Daken’s not lost yet,” Azazel says. “And I need the four of you to remember that. He’s strong. He’s wise...when he wants to be. He can hold out for a few days. He won’t cave right off the bat.” 

I close my eyes. “You delivered him to his own personal hell.” 

“What can I say? I’m the devil. I do that. It’s kind of my thing.”

Johnny’s eyes could bore holes into the table with how hard he’s glaring. “I want to find him,” he growls. “Now.” 

“Well I’m afraid that’s impossible without fighting,” Azazel says. “Daken will be wherever Romulus is- he won’t risk the separation. Not at such a… fragile time in their relationship.” 

“‘Fragile time’?” I question- not liking his phrasing. 

“Romulus is going to try and indoctrinate him,” Mystique says. “Brainwash him. Beat it into him. Take your pick. He wants his weapon back. Daken has killed gods before- if Romulus has him on his side, his chances of winning are higher. Plus- torturing him into submission also tortures and fucks with your heads. It’s win-win for him.” 

“Oh, Daken.” Gabby gasps, covering her mouth with her hands. 

“But it will take more than a day,” Azazel says. “Wherever Romulus is- that’s where we find Daken. That’s where we start.”

We need to get to DC. Now, before everyone else. 

There’s no telling when Romulus will be there- but there’s a chance he might not even show up for this battle. It’s a chance I can’t take. 

I need to know where he is- and he’s not going to be where we think. 

We’ve got to cause enough commotion- we’ve got to stir up enough trouble, to seek him out, to doggedly chase him to the very ends of the earth- and draw him out to us. 

Make ourselves the target- just like we did Daken. 

If I have to paint a target on my forehead to save him… then I’m going to do it. 

And I know Johnny will too. 

“I want to go to DC,” I say. “Now. I want to beat him there.” 

“I’m with Bobby,” Johnny says. “We’ll figure out plan when we get there…. But we can’t sit by and wait for it to happen. 

“And the x-men…?” Azazel asks. 

Fuck. The kids. 

I’ve got to-

“I know the roster of students and am an x-man,” Laura says. “I can make sure everyone’s safe and accounted for.” 

I sigh in relief.

Having an extra x-man (wait- two of them, I forgot about Gabby) on hand will do us a world of good. 

“We’ve got this Bobby,” Gabby says. “Go find our brother. Bring him home as fast as possible… please.”

I nod. “I can do that.” 

“So you’re just going to go to DC and what- walk the whole city until you find him?” Azazel says. “It will never work.” 

“DC is a very specific target,” Johnny says. “If he’s trying to stir up mutant trouble there are only a few places he’ll want to go to draw the most blood.” 

I point at him. “Right.” 

“So we’ll go there and wait for signs of trouble.” Johnny finishes his thought. “I think he’s the kind of guy to give us false information to keep us on our toes. He could be moving his troops now and we wouldn’t know. By the time we got there- the damage could already be done.” 

“I’ll leave Laura and Gabby with you,” I tell Azazel. “They’ll make sure everyone gets here safely. Then you can meet us there. If he’s going to be there- I want to beat him. Then force him to tell us where Daken is. Maybe stop this war before it starts.”

“And if you can’t stop it- we’ll be reinforcements,” Laura says. “You the others aren’t going to let you do this on your own. They’d rather die than see you go down like that.” 

I nod. “I know.” 

“And you also know the Kitty’s going to kick your ass for not being safe.” She says with a slight smile. 

“Let’s give her some time to cool off.” I can’t help but chuckle at the thought of it. There’s a sense of longing there. I miss my friends. I’m suffering and I want nothing more than a few extra shoulders to cry on. 

“You’re not accounting for the fact that Romulus has probably already planned for this,” Mystique says- reminding me that she’s here. 

She’s usually not a person you can forget. 

She seems…. Subdued. It’s a weird thing to think about her. In my whole time of knowing of her- she’s never been this quiet. 

“I think this is our best plan,” Johnny says. “And it’s the one I want to go with.” 

Azazel is quiet for a long moment. “If that’s how you wish to proceed…” 

“It is,” I say, looking at Johnny who nods. 

“Sure, who cares if two of the most important heroes to this- the people that can stop Daken if he goes insane- are killed on some stupid mission before this all even starts.” Mystique says snarkily. 

“It’s our best option.” 

And ‘stop Daken’? What’s she think he’s going to do? 

He won’t attack us. I know him better than that. He won’t cave to Romulus that quickly. 

“You’re being stupid, Drake.” She says. “You’re thinking with your heart and not your head. Think with your brain. What does your brain tell you?” 

“That this is our only option at finding Daken,” I say cooly. 

“That’s not your head- that’s still your heart. Try again.” 

“This is our only option at finding Daken,” I repeat. “And we’re doing it.” 

Everyone is quiet. 

“I’m with them,” Laura speaks into the dense silence. “Romulus may have planned for this and it may be a trap- but if there’s a slight chance he hasn’t- we need to take it.” 

“Besides- Daken needs Bobby and Johnny,” Gabby says. “He won’t attack them no matter how many times his brain is washed.” 

Laura nods. 

“This isn’t a smart option,” Mystique says. 

“Well it’s our only option,” Johnny says. “And we’re taking it.” 

“Then by all means-” Azazel waves his hand and a purple portal opens up. “The portal is at random. Finding your way to the targets will be completely up to you. Do you understand?” 

 

“I understand,” I say with a nod before turning to the girls. “Laura, take care of the kids,” I say, taking Johnny’s hand and standing to my feet. 

“I will, Bobby.” She says. “I promise. You two be careful.” 

“The carefullest,” I say, stepping into the portal without another thought. 

We end up in a small food court of a rundown mall. 

“Are we even in DC?” I ask, eyes adjusting to the scene. 

There’s barely anyone around to note our strange arrival. 

“I’m not sure,” Johnny says, looking around. “We should ask someone.” 

“There’s no way to do that without it being weird,” I say. “We can find another way. Maybe an address will be written on a receipt?” 

“That’s a great idea babe,” Johnny says with a smile. 

I pat my outfit- which I’ve just noticed is going to make us stand out as well. It has pockets- but my wallet is not in them. 

“You bring your wallet?” I ask. 

Johnny shakes his head. 

“Phone?” 

“Uh- no,” Johnny says. 

“We’ll go …” Right- we don’t have any money. 

Hmm. 

“We should have thought this through a little more,” I say quietly. 

An old woman walking a small dog walks past us with a judgemental look on her face. 

“Good afternoon.” Johnny greets, charmingly. 

She just stares at him, walking a little faster. 

“Have a great day!” He calls as she hurries away. 

I smirk. “Done terrifying the locals?” 

“Oh I haven’t even started yet!” he says with a grin. 

It’s the first-moment normality we’ve had in hours. 

“We’ve got to do something about this no wallet no phone thing,” I say, shaking my head. 

As if reading our minds, Another portal opens and drops our wallets phones and chargers. 

“Uh thanks,” I say as it disappears. 

“Don’t think you need to thank the portal.” Johnny jokes. 

“I was kinda hoping Azazel would hear me,” I say sheepishly. 

“I honestly don’t think he cares.” 

I shrug. “He might.” 

“We should get a hotel room,” Johnny says, changing the topic. “Try to work out our plan.” He picks his wallet off the floor and grabs our phones and chargers. 

“Mr. Storm, are you trying to seduce me?” I joke. 

Johnny raises an eyebrow. “Is it working?” 

His line falls flat. 

I nod a little. 

“Would work better if our better half was here.” He says. 

“He’ll be okay.” I try to reassure him even though I don’t think it’s true.  
“You know the best part about you, Bobby?” Johnny asks. 

“Hmm?” 

He smiles, taking my hand. “You can’t lie.” He says. 

I close my eyes. “What are we gonna do?” I ask. 

“Just what you said we would. We’ll find him. We’ll bring him home. We’ll keep him there. Kiss, hug, kiss some more- he’ll be safe and sound. We’ll make sure of it.” He smiles. “I know we will.” He nods to the door. “The first thing we need to do is find a gas station and go buy something. The receipt will tell us where we are and then we’ll know where to go.” 

I nod. “Good plan.” 

“One foot in front of the next, step by step by step, and he’ll be home,” Johnny says. “Keep your chin up.” 

“I’ll try,” I say weakly. I keep ahold of his hand as he leads me out of the mall and into the parking lot. 

I’m suddenly hit by the daunting mass of our task. This is so much to take on by ourselves. 

What if it doesn’t work? 

What if we fail? 

God, we can’t- we can’t fail. 

I can’t leave him to this. 

What if… what if we don’t get there in time? 

What if Romulus makes him hate us? 

What if something goes wrong and he’s dead by the time we reach him? 

If Romulus can’t turn him- he’ll kill him. That’s totally within reason to worry about. 

“You’re freaking out,” Johnny says gently. 

“Huh?” 

“You’re freezing the ground.” He points to the ice at my feet. 

“Oh fuck. Sorry, Johnny.” 

“Don’t be sorry.” He takes my hand and kisses it. “You have every right to be freaked out. I’m freaking out too. The sheer size of what we’re about to do-” 

“Babe…”I ask quietly, looking at the ground and trying to reign in my powers. 

“Hmm?” He asks. 

“We’ll… we’ll find him- right?” I ask. 

“We will.” he says, putting his hands on my face “I swear, baby. We’ll find him. We’ll bring him home. We’ll stop all of this- I promise. We will all be together again.”

“I just… I think about it and I can barely move.” 

“Then I’ll keep us moving,” Johnny says. “We’ll find him. When something's meant to be- it’s meant to be. And no force in the universe can stop it.” he holds my gaze intently. “And what we have? I think it’s meant to be. I feel so much better about… god... Everything when I’m with you two. The ups, the downs, the botched charity events…” He smiles. “And Daken? He’s happier than I’ve ever seen him. Period. We love you so much. I love both of you so much. I’m going to do anything and everything I possibly can to keep you.” 

I have to swallow down the pure lump of emotion in my throat as I can say. “I feel the same way.” 

“Then… we keep going.” Johnny says. “And going and going and going until we’re free. Until all of this is behind us.” He rubs my cheek with his thumb. “And we can.” He says. “If anyone can do this- we can. Not because we have the power, not because we have the means, but because we have to.” He says. “There is no other option. He’s free with us or we fail trying.” He pauses. “If you feel the same way.” 

I lean forward and kiss him. “I do,” I say when I pull back. 

He smiles. “Then we have to get going.” He lets me go, staying super close. “There’s a gas station on the other side of the parking lot. Let’s go get something to drink and a little snack before-” 

Something catches my eye in the sky. “Johnny-” I look behind him to a large cloud of smoke a few miles off. “Look.” I point. 

He turns around. 

“Could be a coincidence?” He offers just as the sound of a million sirens echo through the cold air. 

“I don’t think so.” 

“Well fuck,” he says. “We need to get there.” 

“Cab will take too long- we don’t even know where we are.” I murmur. 

“Ice up.” He says. “And hold on.” 

I ice over without a second thought just as he ignites. “Might be a little toasty-” He leaves his arms unlit and takes mine- before I know it, we’re flying the air really, really, really fast. 

Over interstates, over roads, over trees, over houses- right to the main part of the city- a few blocks from the white house. He drops me on a busy street that’s gridlocked with traffic. 

People have abandoned their cars in the face of a large group of about twenty people who are openly using powers and attacking anyone in their way. 

The biggest is a dude that looks semi Juguranat-ish. Wearing an all-black outfit. He’s followed by several women- also wearing all black. 

The man claps his giant hands and causes the pavement of the road to split in half and the ground to shake. 

To the left of the street- cars are tipped on their sides from the force of his clap. I hear screaming. Kids. 

“There are kids trapped in that car!” I point to it. 

“I got ‘em.” He flies over, drawing the big guy’s attention to him. 

“This guy first,” I say, bulking up my ice form and matching his size. It’s a new trick. I’m working on it. 

I take a run at him- watching the grin spread on his face when he realizes I’m coming. 

We clash- me pushing as hard as I can. 

While I engage him, several of his teammates run around us- trashing the city and heading for the Whitehouse. 

“Johnny??” I call over my shoulders. 

“I’m on it!” He quickly cuts off their path with a large wall of flames while still pulling kids from the car and putting them on the sidewalk. “You’re okay.” I hear him saying. “Can you move? Can you walk? Okay- go over to the other side of the street away from these people- okay? We’ll get your parents out- I promise.” 

The kids run off behind him- two little dark-skinned boys who look terrified and insanely sad. But at least they're safe. 

“Get to their parents yet?” I call when they can’t hear. 

“They need medical attention,” Johnny calls. “I don’t think I can get them out!” 

Then there’s heat and light and explosions- my ears are ringing from someone using sonic-based powers- the ground is shaking due to this asshole, uncontrolled plant growth is spreading up the side of buildings- someones got some kind of hoard of animals- it’s a mess. 

These mutants are destroying the city and it’s taking no time at all. 

I manage to knock my dude out- turning around to see Johnny outnumbered and surrounded. 

I ice my dude to the ground and make a slide over to Johnny- dropping down in the circle beside him and putting my back to his back- blasting everyone he blasts a second time and freezing them in a circle around us. 

Soon we’re surrounded by police and first responders. 

The cops draw their guns and Johnny and I hold our hands up. “We’re on your side!” Johnny calls. 

“Sure you are.” One dark-skinned cop says. 

“We are,” Johnny growls. “We took these guys out. You don’t need to be here. Go to the government buildings and guard. There’s going to be more of these bastards.” 

The man slowly lowers his gun. “I know you.” 

“Johnny Storm. Human Torch. Fantastic Four.” he points to me. “This is Iceman- he’s an x-man.” 

Slowly all the cops lower their guns. 

“There are injured people in their cars,” I say, trying to sound very professional. “They need medical attention. And there are some kids behind us- their parents are in the flipped car.” I point to the car Johnny pulled them out of. 

“We’re on it.” Another cop says, Going to her walkie-talkie and calling for medics. 

The people around us struggle a little before going still and falling over where they stand. 

“Holy fuck,” Johnny whispers, going to the woman to his immediate right and checking her pulse. “Holy fuck.” He repeats. “She’s dead.” 

I quickly go to the guy in front of me- checking his pulse as well. “He’s dead too,” I say in shock. 

Several cops rush over to help us, one even pulling the woman out of the ice and performing CPR. She doesn’t revive. 

“It’s like they had a kill switch.” Johnny looks at the twenty corpses. 

“It looks like-” 

Another explosion sounds off in the city followed by civilians screaming. 

“We’ve got to go,” I tell the first cop. 

He nods. “We’ll take care of the stiffs.” 

“Thanks. Get those kids- okay?” Johnny nods, stepping over the circle of corpses and running after the sounds of chaos. 

I follow at his heels. 

What happens next is like a repeat of what happened the first time. We fight people with almost exactly the same powers all through the city. 

It keeps going on for hours. Every time one wave falls- there’s another right behind it. And when they’re defeated- they die. 

I take down a woman who’s got thermo control- both fire and water- and stop to catch my breath, hands on my knees and looking onto the horizon. 

“We’ve got another earth mover,” Johnny says behind me. 

“Fire manipulation to the left!” I call. 

“I’m on it!” He zooms past me as I charge to the earth mover. BIg dude- they’ve all been big dudes. 

I am officially exhausted. 

He punches my face- sending me sideways. 

There is not banter. There are no taunts. It’s like fighting a robot. 

A very strong robot. 

A take a few more punches before blasting him to the ground and moving on. 

We make it through this wave and onto the next block- where we’re hit with an even bigger wave. 

“Good god.” I hiss, watching them swarm the streets. 

That task becomes harder and harder as the sky darkens. 

“Weather manipulator.” Johnny is behind me. “Got to be bad.” 

The winds pick up in front of us, knocking the horde to their knees as lightning falls from the sky and strikes several of them. 

“That’s Ororo!” I say happily. “Backup!” 

Behind us- the ever lovely Windrider descends from the sky and onto the street. “You boys look like hell.” She says with a smile. 

“And you still know how to make an entrance.” I grin. 

“But of course.” She looks behind me. “Duck.” 

I fall to my knees- missing a spearlike chunk of asphalt that was aimed at my head. 

“Fall back.” She says. “You’re no good to us this tired. Get some rest for now.” 

I look at Johnny who nods. 

“We have a base set up two blocks north.” She says. “Hurry.” 

Johnny ignites and hovers over the ground. I ice up and make an ice slide, keeping up with him but exhausting myself in the process. 

We land at a spot surrounded by kids in x-uniforms. 

Remy is standing there with his staff- directing them on how to take on different parts of the city. 

I fall from standing to my knees- unable to stand anymore. 

“God Bobby,” Kitty says from behind me. “You look like hell.” 

“We need to find out where the waves are coming from,” I say. “That’s where we’ll find Romulus.” 

“You can’t fight him like you are right now.” She says. “Neither of you. Take a breather.” She motions to a ground of like fifteen kids. “With me.” 

The only ones that stand out to me are Quire and Evan. Cessily next- her skin reflecting the distant lightning blasts. Trevor makes up their rear- his multiple eyes staring at me. 

Kitty leads them right into the action before Remy takes his with him. Peter and Illyana are making up their own team of adults- Rachel, Hank, and the time-displaced us. I see little me and feel a unique brand of danger. Seeing your younger self is never cool. I mean- it is. But it’s also unnerving as hell. 

They take off to yet another part of the city, leaving Johnny and me on our own in the parking lot of a CVS. 

We’re quiet for a moment before Johnny says, “Look.” I turn my head to a side street he’s pointing to where several large figures are standing. 

“They’re coming in from behind.” I watch them closely but they don’t move. 

“No- they’re giving commands,” Johnny says. “Look- one on the roof, two in the street and one behind them telling them what to do. 

“Romulus.” I point. 

“Maybe,” Johnny says. “We should go check it out.” 

The sound of fighting can be heard from all over the city. Kids and adults alike fighting tooth and nail to stop the hordes from advancing. 

I nod to Johnny and we start inching our way to the men in the street, staying behind buildings to get close but stay out of eye line. 

In the very back of the group is Romulus, giving his orders over a comm link. And they are not nice orders. 

One of them is a large woman in black. 

I know a necromancer when I see one. And she definitely has something necromancy about her. 

“Oh my god…” I gasp. 

Johnny looks at me. 

“They people aren’t dying when we down them,” I say quickly. “They were never alive. We’re fighting corpses.” 

“Yuck.” Johnny looks back. The man on the roof is a small man with a set of claws drawn. Five- on his hands. The men at the front are a large bald man who seems to be guarding and a woman I vaguely recognize as Lady Deathstrike. 

“We don’t know how many of his lieutenants are brainwashed,” I say. “So we should go easy on them.” 

“Roger.” Johnny ignites and steps out from behind a small coffee shop that we’ve been hiding behind, getting Romulus’s attention right away. He turns to his with a quizzical look on his face. Like he was expecting someone- but that it wasn’t us. 

“Where’s Daken?” Johnny growls, forming too large fireballs in his hands. 

“Occupied elsewhere, I’m afraid,” Romulus says. 

“Where is he??” Johnny hurls one of the fireballs at the ground- forming a circle of flames around everyone but the guy on the roof. I join him at his side- bulking my ice form up. 

“That was a stupid mistake.” Romulus takes a step towards the flame- making eye contact with Johnny as he steps through it- seemingly unfazed by the pain of the fire. His skin is healed almost instantly when he’s on the other side. 

Johnny charges him- which isn’t the brightest of moves. Romulus stabs him in the chest- but he keeps going. 

I jump him to get Johnny away and end up stabbed too- not that my ice form can feel it. I disengage Johnny and we get a few feet back. “You okay?” I ask. 

“Cauterized the wounds.” He says. “He didn’t get anything vital.” 

“Well- hang back,” I say before launching back into an attack. Romulus starts stabbing and clawing bits of my ice away- taking my right hand, slicing off a good portion of my left calf- he’s carving me into pieces. 

I get some fucking good hits on him though. Johnny blasts him over my head- pushing him back with the force of it as I ice his feet to the ground. None of his people come to help him. 

Just like we did with his sister- we blast him in turns- only this time… I can’t freeze him solid. I don’t know what’s going on. I try and I try but my powers won’t give me that extra push. In fact- they’re… they’re fizzling out. I’m too exhausted-

I see Johnny faltering too. 

Soon- I find myself on my knees at his feet- not a place you want to be. 

“You stupidly forgot to check for power dampers.” He laughs- it sounds like a growl. “There-” he points. “And there.” he crouches down in front of me- hand on my throat. “I want to thank you though. The both of you. You’ve made my plans ever so easy.” He squeezes my throat in his giant hand- I can hear the ice cracking. “Not to worry- I won’t kill you...unless your idiot boyfriend makes me.” My vision starts to darken. “Move an inch and he’s dead.” He growls to Johnny. I can’t see him. “You have sealed your families fate.” He says with that same laugh. “Your sister is as good as dead. I’ll be sure she knows it was you who has signed her death warrant.” 

He loosens his grip on my throat- allowing a little more air. 

“Are you aware that there is not a single thing on this earth that Daken wouldn’t go through to keep you safe?” He whispers. 

I try to pry his hands off of me as he lifts me into the air- holding me there. 

“So… he needs to know- without a doubt- that you are dead. My plans don’t work until he’s killed you himself. You’ve just made tracking you down so insanely easy.” He drops me, letting me crumple at his feet. 

Johnny rushes to me, pulling me backward. 

“Run if you’d like,” Romulus says. “Half the fun is in the chase.” 

Johnny shakes his head. “We’re not running.” 

He towers over us. “Then I suggest you hold your breath.” 

“Hold our-” 

The world blackout in an instant- leaving me breathless and so utterly cold.


	9. I die (but I get better)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major trigger warnings for this chapter  
> -violence  
> -blood  
> -character death ( in a sense)   
> -brain washing  
> -emotional abuse  
> -verbal abuse  
> -physical abuse  
> -mental break downs (Briefly)   
> -mental institutions (briefly)   
> -torture during interrogations  
> -sadness  
> -depression  
> -desperation  
> -more violence  
> -war  
> -side effects of war  
> -emotional pain  
> -slight reference of non/con and suggestive material (for like a sentence)   
> -after life talk  
> -spells  
> -demons  
> -miscommunications   
> -strained friendships  
> -sad friendships  
> -hatred  
> -blind hatred  
> -close mindedness 
> 
> Annnnnnnd... I think that's it.   
> So yes- this is very sad. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!   
> Please leave a comment of a kudos if you'd be so kind and you want to. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

Hold your breath. What a warning.

Not all enough of one for what we just went through. 

That was the roughest, most pain-filled teleportation I’ve ever suffered through. 

I don’t know who he got to teleport us- I don’t care who he got to teleport us. (unless it’s Azazel- then we’ve been triple crossed and that’s not cool) It may very well have been a device he had handy. 

All I know is that I see Daken and that’s all that matters to me right now. 

Well-I see what’s left of him at any rate. He’s curled in the corner of the cell- missing limbs- missing fingers- one of his eyes as been gauged- he’s basically dead. 

My heart is in my throat.

He was groaning when we appeared in this dark, drafty, run down, dirt-floored cell. 

We were taken by shock by the sudden teleport and where easily taken down by Romulus- who didn’t seem to mind it in the slightest. 

Before we could even fight back- we were down. 

The dirt floor is covered in dark muddy wet spots. Looking at Daken I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it's blood. 

Daken groans from his corner- not fully functional yet.

“Ignore him.” Romulus chuckles. “He’s being dramatic.” 

Dramatic??? He’s more blood than person right now! 

“What did you do to him?” Johnny growls. 

“What I had to do to him.” Romulus sits in a large chair in the center of the room. “You can’t imagine my surprise when my usual brand of discipline failed to… teach him. I suppose I have the two of you to thank for that.” 

I swallow the lump in my throat. 

This is not good. 

I’m mad, I’m scared, I’m tired and the men I love are in immediate danger. 

Today’s not been that good of a day. 

“Attack if you wish,” Romulus says, taking a pair of clawed gloves off his hand and setting them on the floor. “Or try to, at any rate. Your chains are most effective at absorbing powers.” 

We’re chained by the wrists and ankles to the wall by thick cuffs that dig into our skin. 

Our bondage hurts- but not as much as seeing Daken. 

“You don’t really have claws,” Johnny says instead of addressing Romulus’s comment. 

Romulus shows us his ‘real’ claws on the tips of his fingers- much like Sabertooths. “The gloves are for longer ranged attacks.” He says- almost conversationally. “I don’t wear them constantly- I’d get nothing done.” 

“You’re cheating,” Johnny says. 

“I prefer to think of it as… evening the playing field.” Romulus smirks.

“You don’t really have claws and you wear gloves with claws- that’s not ‘evening the playing field- that’s cheating.” Johnny insists. 

“There is no ‘cheating’ in war,” Romulus says dryly. 

Daken stirs good eye opening and a look of panic filtering across his face. 

“Yes. You should be worried.” Romulus says, not looking at him really but still knowing what look he’s wearing. “I told you what would happen if you did not comply. You’ve firmly brought this upon yourself- as you always do.” 

He scolds him like he’s a child. 

“Let him go,” I growl. 

“No,” Romulus says simply, reaching down and unlacing his boots.

I’m worried as to why he’s getting so… comfortable. He must be planning to be here a while. 

That doesn’t bode well for any of us. 

“Are you going to fully strip or is this just for show?” Johnny asks. “Because I don’t have any singles on me.” 

Romulus chuckles. “Daken said you were the funny one.” He clicks his tongue for a second- as if in thought. “Silence yourself or I’ll make it to where you can’t speak at all.” 

Johnny looks at me helplessly but shuts his mouth. 

Humor makes him feel better. 

The fact that he’s willing to give it up that quickly means he’s really upset. 

“What are you going to do?” I ask Romulus.

He stands to his feet. “I’m going to kill you.” He says. “Painfully. I will take you to the edge of death until you beg for it… and then I will kill you.”

Johnny looks at me with wide eyes. 

“No.” Daken’s voice is weak. “No- you won’t. I won’t let you hurt them.” 

“I will. Unless you stop me.” he points to him. “You know exactly what method I will use- you know the exact steps, the precise order, the precise outcome. Do you really want to watch me do it? Will you really subject them to that when you can end their suffering at this very moment?” 

“I won’t kill them.” He says- brokenly at that. “I… I won’t hurt them. I can’t. I can’t hurt them.” 

“Stupid boy.” Romulus walks over to the other side of the room- laughing a little as he grabs Daken off the floor. Daken’s left leg has been amputated below the knee. Blood drips from the wound- it’s recent. He’s been stripped of his uniform- as in completely naked. I hate to think of what Romulus may have done to him in these few short hours. Hours? No- not short. It’s almost been a day. A full day. “You misunderstand me- boy. That wasn’t a request. Kill them or they will suffer. Killing them is the charitable option.” 

“No,” Daken says, shaking his head. “I won’t.” 

“Then enjoy the suffering.” Romulus drops him- the fall is hard enough for something to crack. The large man walks over to us, his body language impossible to read and interpret. It seems to scream ‘violence’ though- so I impatiently wait for the first hit. “You’ve destroyed the sixty-odd years of work I’ve so painstakingly done in the span of one or two. While I’ve been rotting in a jail cell you’ve taken everything I’ve done and undone it in a move of sheer stupidity. Your ‘emotions’ and ‘feelings’ have clouded his judgment and confused him. Yet you stay. Pumping his head full of garbage. You don’t love him. You can’t. He’s the enemy. He’s always been the enemy. You like him for his looks. For his body. For everything I made him be. Being with him is just cruel when you know he can’t possibly return your feelings. In short- you’re fucking with his head. Tell him you’re fucking with his head and we can get this over quickly.”

“We’re not fucking with his head. We do love him.” I correct hotly. “And he is more than worthy of it. He can feel. He’s not confused. He’s not your tool. He’s not your thing. You don’t get to ‘make him’ into what you want to. What you did to him was fucked up. You are a fucked up man. You’re sick and twisted. Nothing is wrong with him-everything is wrong with you.”

“Is that so?” He says with a smirk. “You know it’s very unwise to taunt the man who has you chained in a cell. Neither of you are a very smart man- are you?” He says- almost teasingly. “Not that I expected much else. Daken always did have an affinity for idiots.” 

Idiots? 

Fuck him. 

Really. Fuck him. 

We got ourselves this far. 

Sure we got captured… but we found him. And he took us to Daken. 

We’ll think of a way to further this plan and turn it around. I know we will. 

“Let them go,” Daken says brokenly. “I’ll do what you want- just… please… don’t hurt them.” 

“Weakling.” Romulus snarls. “You don’t love them. Look at them. They’re not like us. Weak. Stupid. Pathetic. And yet still… so much better than you. You don’t deserve them, boy. Even in all their weakness. Even in all their stupidity. They’re better than you. You do not deserve to share the same air with them.”

“Don’t listen to him, baby,” Johnny says. “You’re more than enough. You’re not stupid. Just because he says it doesn’t make it true- remember?” 

“Oh, Really?” Romulus asks dryly. “Even now you’d fill his head with nonsense. You don’t love them- boy. To love makes you weak. You don’t want to be weak. So much pain will befall you if you are weak. Be strong. Denounce them. Tell them you never loved them. Clear your mind of this useless emotion.” 

Daken swallows loudly. “I do love them. More than anything. And I won’t let you hurt them.”  
My heart is in my throat again. 

He could change his mind to save himself. But… he doesn’t. He stays loyal. 

That… that’s our boy.   
I’m so proud of him. 

“And how are you going to stop me, hmm? You can’t even walk.” 

“I will stop you by any means necessary,” Daken says. “You won’t hurt them.” 

“Be silent, idiot.” Romulus traces down my chest with a claw. It makes me uncomfortable in a way he hadn’t previously. 

“I suppose you should be rewarded for your tenacity..” He says. “You made it this far at of sheer stupidity and stubbornness.” 

“You can reward us by letting us go.” Johnny offers. 

Romulus smirks. “I should start by taking your tongue.” 

“Oh, no one would like that,” Johnny says quickly. 

“On the contrary, I think I’d find that quite enjoyable.” 

“I think I wouldn’t...”Johnny says. “So why don’t we just… not?” 

Johnny’s baiting him. I see what he’s up to.

It’s not something I would try right now. 

“Silence,” Romulus growls. “Which of you wants to start- hmm? Who will take the first blow?” 

“I will,” I say with a hundred percent certainty. 

“Even when I promise to rip your guts out through your stomach, slit several choice arteries, and take your pretty little head?” 

I swallow a lump in my throat. “Yes.” 

“Idiot.” He says, stepping away from me. “If you’re in such a rush to meet your maker- who am I to stop you?” 

“Stop!” Daken says when Romulus draws his fist back- going for a hit. 

He stops short. Romulus taps a finger to his lips. “Do it now, Daken.” He orders. 

“No.” His answers are getting weaker. 

“It’s okay baby,” I tell him. “Really- it’s okay. We’ll figure something out.” 

“Don’t hurt them,” Daken begs. “Please. I’ll do anything.” 

Romulus turns and glares at him. “That is an order. Stab him.” 

“NO!” 

“You wretched thing.” He goes back and lifts Daken up, throwing him into the wall we’re chained on- I see his head dent from the impact. 

Romulus drags him to where he’s underneath us.

He’s half dead- barely hanging on. I feel his hand wrap around my boot. I wish I could touch his skin. 

“Kill them or else I will,” Romulus says. 

He shakes his head. 

“They’re going to suffer. At my hand. With you right here underneath them. Do them a favor and..” There’s a sound of a loud bang. “Oh, wonderful,” Romulus growls. “We’ve got company. I’ll have to rush this. And I hate rushing an execution.” he looks down at Daken. “You will suffer for this.” He says- like it’s his fault someone is attacking… wherever we are. 

Another loud bang at the ground shakes. 

“The fucking insolence,” Romulus mutters. 

I think he’s going to walk away but instead- he jerks around and stabs me- fingers digging into my flesh and ripping up. I don’t scream- I can’t. I see my insides through the large gaping wound. 

The blood falls on Daken who looks completely terrified. 

“Let him go!” He cries. 

“You knew what was going to happen the second you defied me,” Romulus growls- making deeper slashes on my thighs- ripping the borrowed uniform. He pulls my the collar of my outfit down and shreds it- baring more of my chest as he makes slashes there, as well. I swear I can see my heart. A large hand wraps around my neck- squeezing. 

“Bobby-” Johnny says quickly. “Bobby??” 

I can’t respond. 

 

He lets go of my neck and goes for my arms but Daken tackles him- with as injured as he is, I can tell Romulus is shocked. 

“Get off of me- boy.” He snarls- picking him up and tossing him again. 

“Let them go!” He yells- tackling again. 

Romulus pins him to the ground and literally tears his other leg off- tossing it across the room. “Be still!!” He snarls, bashing Daken’s head into the stone floor. 

“Bobby, baby- breathe,” Johnny says. “Please- please breathe. It’s okay. Look at me.” 

“Bobby??” Daken wheezes from his spot on the floor- face bloodied and barely recognizable. 

I can barely see. I can barely breathe. 

I can barely- 

“Bobby??” 

The air is now clouded with … emotion raw rage. Raw sadness. Raw- God everything. 

“Try again.” Romulus snarls, letting go of Daken and walking over to Johnny- gutting him as well. He sags on his chains. He slashes his neck - which spurts blood everywhere. “Kill them, boy.” He says. “They’re dying anyway.” 

Daken grabs Romulus ankle- stabbing his claws through his leg. 

“Insolent little bastard,” Romulus growls, stomping Daken’s arm with his other foot and breaking it in several places. “They don’t love you- how could they?? You? You broken little fool. Who could love you? Would you seriously give up all the power I have cultivated for you for two dying idiots who never loved you to begin with??” 

He stabs him again- moving even though his arm is very broken. 

The pain around me starts to fade. I watch them through clearer vision than I think I’ve ever had in my life. 

Something… doesn’t feel right. 

Like I’m not actually part of the scene I’m seeing.

Like I’ve disassociated from myself. 

I don’t feel very much pain- My joints aren’t stiff- I don’t feel myself bleeding- I can’t breathe- but then I don’t need to. 

My brain is calm. 

It’s telling me everything is alright. 

I don’t know why- I can’t explain it. 

“You don’t love them. You’re not good for them. They don’t deserve to be treated like you treat them-” 

He cries out and drives his claws deeper. 

“You’re not capable of this level of emotion!” Romulus snarls, shaking him off. He yanks him up and slams him face first into the wall beside me. “See? They are dead. They never loved you. No one ever loved you. You are unlovable. You have no one but me- the one person in this life who had the kindness to take you in. You are broken, unloving, unloved, unfeeling, beast. And you like being that way. Emotions confuse you.” 

He’s… he’s brainwashing him. He’s telling him these awful things while inducing trauma. And I’m seeing it first hand. Daken’s wet from blood- both his and mine. He looks at me with the rawest form of hurt I’ve ever seen him express. “He doesn’t love you,” Romulus says. “He’s spent his last breath and he doesn’t. Love. You. You’ve caused him nothing but pain. Nothing but hurt. You’ve cut his life short. You’ve-” 

Daken turns his head and bites Romulus’s arm- hard. He bites and he doesn’t let go. 

“You are honestly going to keep attacking me?? They’re dead- boy! You see it with your own eyes!” 

“We’re not dead!” I say loudly- I actually don’t even feel pain at all anymore. I look over and… see me. I standing beside me… oh, holy fuck. That’s my body. And I’m… I’m beside it. 

Blood has dripped from my deep wounds to the floor and I’m sagged against my chains with my eyes closed, blood on my lips. 

I look over at Johnny- seeing him stare back at me with unseeing eyes. 

After a moment- he seems to move away from the wall- but his body stays. He’s standing beside us like I am- watching Romulus and Daken. 

“Babe- what’s happening?” I ask in panic. 

“Why did you do this to me??? WHY CAN’T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE! I hate you- I HATE You. I HATE YOU. YOU are the ENEMY! YOU have ALWAYS BEEN THE ENEMY! I LOVED THEM! I WAS HAPPY!! WE HAD A LIFE- A GOOD LIFE. THE FIRST GOOD LIFE I’VE EVER HAD AND YOU TOOK IT AWAY FROM ME!” Daken yells. “I hate you.” He breaks down in sobs. “I… I really hate you.” His sobs rack his body. 

“This is your fault- you know,” Romulus says, wiping his hand on his pants. “You could have spared them.” 

Daken continues to sob. 

“I did what was best for you,” Romulus says. “As I always have. Serve me, Daken. You have no one else to turn to.” 

“Fuck you.” Daken wheezes between sobs. “FUCK YOU!” 

“Idiot.” Romulus tosses him against the far wall. “Deal with their corpses. I’ll collect you when you’re ready to act civil.” 

Romulus leaves and Daken curls in on himself- sobbing. 

“Hey- baby it’s okay,” I say to him. “Look at me. Daken?” He doesn’t hear me. “Daken?? Look at me- it’s okay. Baby, it’s okay- we’re right here. Daken?? Look over here!” 

“He can’t hear you,” Johnny says, moving over to him. “He can’t hear either of us.” 

His world has ended- and you can see it. All over him. 

All I want is to make him feel better. 

I move over with Johnny. “So.. this is it?” I ask. “Hell? Heaven? Nothing?” 

He has tears on his face. “I don’t know.” He says. “I don’t know baby.” 

I bend down to Daken. “He thinks this is his fault.” I try to touch him, but my hand fades right through him. “It’s okay.” I try again. “We don’t blame you. It’s okay.” That’s all I can think to say. 

Johnny touches me- and him I can feel. 

“Baby….” he says. “We didn’t make it. And he did. We… We’re not alive.” 

I nod, feeling an overwhelming sadness course through me. 

“It’s okay,” I repeat. “It’s okay- none of what he said is true. It’s okay.” 

“Bobby, he can’t hear you,” Johnny says. 

His sobs are loud and raw. Like a wounded animal. 

We… we did this to him. 

A wall close to where we are chained- or were chained- explodes open, leading in several x-men.

“Oh my god.” I hear Kitty- but not as much as I hear Daken. The x-men unchain our bodies, laying them on the floor. “We need a medic!” Kitty yells. 

“Kitty!” I try to call. 

Johnny touches my shoulder and shakes his head. 

“Bobby- oh my god,” Kitty says, tears rolling down her face. “I told you to be careful.” 

“I’m right here!” I try again, waving my arms. 

She can’t hear me. She can’t see me. 

No one can hear or see us. 

We may as well not even be in this room. 

“Bobby- please,” Kitty begs. “Don’t die. I’m sorry we didn’t get here soon enough…. I’m... I’m sorry. I’m so so so sorry.” She’s choking on her words. 

Between Daken’s sobs and Kitty’s sobs- I find myself torn on who to go to. 

I stick by Daken. He needs me the most. And he’s the one I want to be with at the moment. 

If this is to be the end- I want him to know it wasn’t his fault. That I didn’t die blaming him for it. That he didn’t do anything worthy of blame. 

I look up and am surprised to see Azazel looking straight at us. Where no one else seems to be. 

No one seems to see him either. 

“Well, you’ve gone and done it.” He says. “Your stupidity has gotten you killed.” 

He walks over and nudges Daken with his foot- that fades right through him. “And this one.” He sighs. “Left with the pieces. He’ll never get over this.” 

“We’re dead.” Johnny croaks. “And we’re going to… hell? Heaven? Where are we going?” 

“Partially dead,” Azazel says. “As far as where you’re going- It would appear that you’re ghosts at the moment. You can go where you please.” 

“Partially dead?”Johnny asks. 

“Well- mostly dead, actually. Your souls are not in your body’s… but you’re trapped in this room via spell. I Placed it here months ago for another matter- Romulus simple stole my location. You are a side effect. Not to worry.” He looks up. “I’m sure the afterlife will get this straightened out and you’ll fo somewhere pleasant. Both of your hero careers being kept in mind.” 

“I don’t want to be dead,” Johnny says. 

“Then you shouldn’t have gotten yourself killed,” Azazel says. 

“But… I’m talking. I’m moving. How am I dead?” 

Azazel sighs. “Do you really want me to go over the logistics and physics of being dead with you? Now?” 

He nods.

“Argh. Not put it simply- You’re not a body anymore. You’re a soul. You’re not even really talking. You haven’t been because you’ve been dead for the last ten minutes. So wonderful rescue mission. Really. Next time I’m in trouble, I’ll be sure to give you a call.” He smirks. 

“Oh my god,” Johnny says weakly. 

“The x-men are going about reviving you,” Azazel says- sounding unimpressed. “Look- I owe you something for saving my child. Raven and I have talked about it. I thought helping you find Daken was enough… but … you’ve botched it. So, I’m prepared to do you one last favor. No strings attached.” 

 

“Why would we need a favor of you if we’re dead? I mean- are we really dead- like dead dead?” 

“What part of ‘dead’ are you not grasping?” Azazel puts his hands on his hips. “Dead- deceased, unalive, not among the living, stone cold. Dead. Very dead. Deader than dead. You were gutted and had several arteries slit.” He waits for it to sink in. “But I’m going to save you.” He says. “With the knowledge that should you get yourselves killed AGAIN, I will not repeat my actions. Do you understand?? You will go to your maker whether you want to or not.” He points at Daken. “And I don’t think he’ll be able to handle it a second time any better than he has the first. His signals are insane. I’ve never felt so much raw pain before.” 

“Can you make him hear us?” I ask. 

“No.” 

“Can you tell him we’re going to be okay?” Johnny asks. 

“No.” 

“Well, what can you do?” I ask hotly. 

“I can return your pathetic ungrateful souls to your bodies.” He growls, “And put a spell of brief protection over you- keeping you from dying again as they try to save you. Do you want that? Once you are alive and well you can tell Daken all of this yourself. Should you die once the protection wears off- that’s on you. Do we have an understanding or do I need to go over it again?” 

“Yes,” I say weakly. “We understand.” 

“That monster did this,” Kitty says to the other x-men, glaring at Daken. “He’s working with Romulus again. He’s a traitor. He’s evil as they come. You don’t get over being evil. I told Bobby. I told him. And now Daken’s turned on them like a wild animal- tearing them to pieces. 

“No-” 

“She can’t hear you,” Azazel says. 

“Tell her she’s wrong!” I demand. 

Azazel rolls his eyes. “She can’t hear me either.” 

Daken can’t defend himself because he’s not making words anymore. 

“Why?” Kitty asks, going to him. “Why did you do this??” 

He can’t respond. 

“Answer me god damn you!!!!” She yells, kicking him in the back. 

“No- no- Stop!” I cry. 

“You are a monster,” Kitty says. “And I called it from the beginning. To think they wasted so much time on you. YOU.” 

Every word hits him like a dagger. I can see his face. 

“STOP!” 

“Oh for fuck's sake.” Azazel grabs me by the shoulder and throws me back into my body. The pain hits like a truck. 

“Kitty! He’s alive!” Remy calls, pounding on my chest. 

I see Johnny’s eyes open beside me. 

“Put that monster in holdup,” Kitty says over her shoulder. “He’s going to answer for this.” 

“N---n--no.” I try to stop her. 

“Shh. Bobby don’t worry about it.” Kitty strokes my hair. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. We’ll make sure he can’t hurt you.” 

“NO,” I say louder- spitting up blood. 

“Easy- easy.” She turns over her shoulder. “Get him out of here!” 

They’ve got SHIELD agents with them. They roughly grab him off the floor- he doesn’t even fight them. 

“Put him in the deepest, darkest hole you can find,” Kitty says, tears still on her face.

“Kitty- are you thinking that maybe this was… ya know.. Someone else?” Remy says. “He’s pretty banged up.” 

“I’m thinking that Romulus came back and Daken lured them in so he could kill them and rejoin him. If he’s hurt Romulus did it so we’d think he was a victim when we attacked. He’s evil. Look at him- he’s evil. He’s covered in their blood!” Kitty snaps. “Get him out of here! That monster doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as them!”

“No-” I try again. 

Don’t say that. She can’t say that. 

She’s wrong. She’s got to know she’s wrong. 

I try to move but my body won’t respond. 

I see Azazel in the corner of the room. “Seventy-two hours before the spell wears off.” He says. “I hope your medics are as good as they think they are.” He disappears in a puff of smoke that no one seems to notice. 

Daken is roughly snatched off the floor and removed just as my vision goes dark. 

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

“More morphine.” Is the first thing I hear. 

There’s a pale woman standing over me. A halo of blonde hair on her head. “Hello there.” She says with a smile “Welcome back to the land of the living.” 

“Johnny-” I pull myself to attention. “Is he alive?” 

“He’s alive.” She says. “Take it easy.” 

“How long have I been under?” 

“Twenty-four hours.” She says. “Really Mr. Drake, take it easy.” 

“Daken.” I gasp. “Where is he?” 

“Well- that’s harder to say-” 

“Where is HE?” I demand. 

“Being interrogated by SHIELD-”

Interrogated? 

Oh no- no no. 

He’s not guilty. He’s in pain and he’s raw and he thinks it’s his fault already. 

And I know for a fact that SHIELD interrogations aren’t always on the legal side of things. Fury breaks several laws when interrogating people. The Geneva convention being one of them. 

My boy’s probably in hell. 

I yank myself off of the operating table- barely able to breathe but determined. 

I’m going to find him. 

I’m going to save him. 

I will not fail.

“Mr. Drake-” The woman catches me. “You’re waking up from a major surgery. Please-” 

“Get me Daken.” I gasp. “He’s innocent. It wasn’t him.” 

“If he’s innocent then Nick Fury will rule that. You can’t help him-” 

“TAKE ME TO HIM.” I snarl. 

“Mr. Drake- I’ll be frank with you- they’ve had him for twenty-four hours. Even if he didn’t do it he’s probably already confessed to get them to stop. There’s honestly probably nothing left to see.” 

My tears are hot on my face. “TAKE ME TO HIM!!!!” I demand again, with all the force I can put into it. 

She holds her hands up. “Nurse, get me a wheelchair and an oxygen mask.” 

She helps me to the chair and puts the mask on my face before rolling me down several hallways. 

She knocks on one door and I can hear screaming from inside. 

Broken screams. Wild screams. Pain filled- raw- tragic. 

When the screaming stops there are sobs. 

An agent in a standard blue uniform opens the door. “What?” he asks in an aggravated tone. “I already told you- we’re not giving pain meds 'til we have a full confession. If you don’t like the screams- put headphones in.” he looks down at me and a look of horror overshadows his annoyance. “Is that-?” 

She nods. 

“Oh fuck. Let me guess- he wants to free the perp?”

She nods. “He says Daken didn’t do it.” 

The man turns around. “Nick- I think we got the wrong guy.” 

There’s a pain filled scream and a mechanical whirring and buzzing sounds- like a saw. When it cuts off there are very loud sobs. A thousand ‘sorry’s’ over and over again. 

My heart is my throat again. 

I don’t need to see into the room to know that Daken is in there. 

There’s movement inside the room before Fury appears and then inhales deeply. “Daken didn’t do it- did he?” He asks gravely. 

I shake my head. “Please let him go.” 

“Holy fuck.” He wipes his face. “Well, this is going to be hard as fuck to undo. Pryde swore to me he did it.” 

“Kitty’s wrong,” I say weakly. “Please, Fury- let him go. He didn’t do it. He’s as much as a victim as I am.” 

“And you’re sure?” Fury asks. 

I nod. 

“We’ve already got a partial confession.” He says. “You’re saying that’s not the truth?” 

“He’s not well.” I try. “Romulus was brainwashing him and he’s been through a lot of trauma in the last few days- he thinks it’s his fault but it’s not- I swear,” I say. “I was there. I heard the whole thing. I’ll … testify. I’ll give a statement. I’ll go on every record. Daken is innocent. Please- please stop hurting him.” 

I feel so betrayed by Kitty. 

I understand that she doesn’t like Daken. And that’s fine. 

But hating him to the point of telling them he killed me and getting him ‘interrogated’ with absolutely no evidence?? That’s got to be a whole new level of hate. 

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive her. 

“Goddammit. X-men don’t usually jump to conclusions.” He puts his hand behind his head and looks at the ceiling. “Get me a medic.” He tells the doctor. “Get me several medics. Get Drake out of here. We gotta clean up this mess. Tell them to bring every painkiller they can get their hands on. Oxygen too. And gauze. Antiseptics. Ya know what? Just prep a surgical suite.” 

The doctor starts to push me away. “Wait!” I call. “Let me see him!” 

Fury shakes his head in the door. “I’m sorry Drake.” He says gravely. “If you’d just woken up a few hours ago…” He shakes his head again. “Get him out of here. We’ve got a lot of work to do.” 

“Wait please-” I beg. “Let me talk to him! He’s got to know it wasn’t his fault!” 

“No waiting. Trust me, dear. You don’t want to see what’s in that room.” The doctor takes me to a room and puts me in bed, hooking me up to all sorts of machines. I try to get up but she pushes me back down. “You can barely move. Do not try to get out of bed.” When I try again, she restrains me. 

“Let me go!” I say weakly. “I need to see him!” 

“Yea hate to break it to ya sweetie- but no one’s seeing him for a few days. If they’re going to fix what they fucked up he’ll be sedated for a while. He’s in a lot of pain.” She takes my Iv tube and injects it with something- making me pass out. 

\----------------------------------------------

“Bobby, I’m so sorry.” I hear Kitty say. 

But I can’t forgive her. 

“I didn’t know… I saw you dead and I saw him covered in blood and- I’m sorry Bobby. But he’s going to be okay. They uh- got the bleeding to stop, he’s had to have a few surgeries, skins growing back, lungs have healed- really. He’s… he’s doing okay.” 

She got him hurt. 

She hated him enough to assume the worst and she got him tortured. ON top of him already being tortured and on top of him having to watch us die- she blamed it all on him, got several high powered people to go along with her, and got my boyfriend wrongly tortured for my death when he already felt like he’d caused it. 

“He was breathing without a mask.” She says- sounding a little hopeful. “And he talked a little bit- they uh... Threw out the confession. They took yours and Johnny’s statements and got a third witness- they wouldn’t say who but it must have been a really solid one- and they threw out all the ‘evidence’ they’d stacked against him basically as pain induced insanity. He’s innocent and he’s free to go. How awesome is that? He’s doing a little better.”

A ‘little better’??? 

I’ve heard nurses and doctors talk about him. 

He’s a mess. 

“He uh well… we… owe him an apology. Is there anything you can think of that we can do for him? Something to say we’re sorry?” Her voice is so little. 

“Do for him?” I growl. “You almost got him killed.” 

“I know and I want to make it up to him.” She says quickly. “Maybe we can… I don’t know, clean the house? Take over some of the bills for a while until he’s back on his feet? Maybe we can-” 

“Get out,” I say. “Just go. Don’t talk to him. Don’t talk to Johnny. Don’t talk to me. Just go.” 

“Bobby-” 

“Get the fuck out of here. I don’t want to look at you.” I say coldly. 

Kitty has tears in her eyes but nods. “I’m really sorry, Bobby.” She says, wiping her eyes. “It was a mistake. I’m… I’m sorry- okay? I tried to tell him but… he uh… isn’t taking visitors.” 

“Get out,” I repeat. “Please- I… you’ve done enough.” Tears are on my face too. 

When she leaves, the tears turn to sobs. 

I don’t have Johnny. I don’t have Daken. I’m in pain. I have no information. 

I don’t know what happened. 

I don’t even want to be alive right now. 

I’d rather die than see the pain that’s been caused to the men I love. 

“That’s enough upsets for today.” My nurse says, taking the syringe to my IV again. “Go to sleep- it’ll work itself out.” 

\----------------------------------

“Where’s Johnny?” I ask weakly. 

“He uh… he’s back in surgery.” 

“And Daken?” 

“Well… he…. Uh…. uhm…” 

“Where is he?” 

“We sent him home.” The nurse says. 

“Home???” 

“He wouldn’t cooperate with treatment- he was too... Raw. They couldn’t handle him. And besides, he has a healing factor so they thought he could just heal on his own.” 

“My phone- get me my phone.” 

“You need more rest.” My nurse says again, injecting my IV. 

\----------------------------------------------------

I come to more fully this time. 

Laura’s sitting beside my bed. 

“How is he?” Is the first thing I think to ask. 

She looks at the floor. “He’s been better.” She says. “Gabby is with him right now.” 

“Did he heal?” 

She shakes her head. “We had to take him to another hospital. They want to keep him for psychiatric observation. He uh… doesn’t believe you’re alive. He thinks he personally killed you. He doesn’t even remember that Romulus was involved. They say he’s been traumatized. You can thank the other x-men for that.” She says the last in a growl. “I’ve moved into his home and am taking over everything. He will not be allowed to work with the x-men ever again. I forbid it. I forbid them from coming around him, as well.” 

“That makes two of us.” I feel tears in my eyes. 

How could they do this? 

How could they- my friends- be so close-minded? 

How could they do this to us? 

“How’s Johnny?” I ask. 

“Johnny’s doing better,” Laura says. “Ben took him home to his and Daken’s house. He’s in a wheelchair for right now. He’s been drinking a lot. They won’t let him come in to see you, but he gave you this.” He pulls out a bag and hands me my cell phone. “I charged it.” On it are several texts and a few voicemails. All from him. Telling me how much he loves me and wants me to get better. 

I hold the phone to my chest- as if it could stop my heart from breaking. 

“Thank you.” 

She nods. “Uh... Kitty also wants to know if you’re coming back when you get better. We’re still in the middle of a war and-” 

“I want to go home,” I say. “And that mansion is not my home anymore.” 

“Do you want me to get some of your things and move them to the house?” 

I nod. “Yes, please. And… I want to go home. Can you tell my nurses and doctors that I want to go home? I think I’ll be okay.” 

I have a shit ton of ugly stitches across my body. It’s going to be a hell of a scar. My limbs randomly fall asleep- so much so that sometimes I’m worried I’m paralyzed. The doctors say that’s just poor blood circulation and will fix itself. 

I try to believe them. 

Right now I don’t believe anyone though. 

I need us. Daken and Johnny. 

We need to be together. 

We need to figure out our next move. 

I just.. God, I just want to hold them. 

“By the way,” Laura says. “Happy birthday.” 

I close my eyes. “Please tell them I want to go home.” 

“Yea, Bobby. Okay. I’ll tell them.” 

I close my eyes and drift off again. 

Worst birthday ever.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

When I get to the door of the house- I pause. He won’t be there. He’s still in the hospital. He’s been there for two weeks.

My nurse pats my shoulder. “It’s okay Bobby.” She says. “Johnny’s happy to see you, I promise.” 

I open the door. The house is darker than it’s ever been. 

Johnny is sitting inside, a bottle of whiskey in his hands. 

“Johnny!” I run over to him- feeling him wrap me up tightly in his arms. 

“Hey baby.” he soothes. “Hey.” 

“Everything went to hell.” I feel myself crying. 

“I know.” he soothes, patting my back. “I know honey.” I weakly sag against him. 

He holds me and we settle into our misery together. 

“It’s okay,” he says in my ear. “I will make it okay again. I promise. I’ll make it okay.” 

Our nurse- the woman they sent me home with orders us to bed- it’s late. 

We’re both given heavy sedatives and pass out in each other’s arms in our too big bed. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I just don’t think that at this point in treatment he should see anyone that’s going to trigger any extreme reactions.” The doctor in front of us says. “He’s only just now started to really speak and-” 

“I need to see him,” I growl, pounding on the doctor’s table. “It’s been three weeks!” 

“Mr. Drake. Daken thinks he killed you. He is literally in mourning. We just had to put him somewhere where he couldn’t hurt himself- he’s so distraught that he can’t even string together coherent thoughts. He’s stuck in the past. Reliving those days over and over and over again. We have to remind him every morning of what actually happened and he rejects it. You’re dead in his mind. Can you imagine what would happen if a ghost showed up and tried to visit you like it was just a normal day?” 

“Let us see him,” Johnny demands. “We are his lovers. His sister- who is is medical power of attorney, if you need to be reminded, said we could see him.” 

The doctor leans back in his chair. “No. It’s too soon.”

“It’s been three weeks!” 

“He’s not well enough to see you, I’m sorry.” The man is a small man from Taiwan with thick-lensed glasses perched on his nose. 

“Please, I’m begging you,” I say, letting him hear the rawness in my voice. “Once he sees us- once we get to hold him- he’ll be fine. He’ll remember. And if he doesn’t remember- we’ll repeat it until he does. He’s got the story flipped because SHIELD tortured him into confessing something he didn’t do! If we tell him-” 

“Mr. Drake we tell him that every morning, noon, and night. And doesn’t work.” 

“Because he hasn’t seen us!” Johnny argues. 

The man exhales slowly. “Daken needs rest.” 

“We’ll let him rest,” I say quickly. “We’re not going to go in there and rile him up- I promise. We can calm him down. He just needs to see us. I know he will accept that we’re alive if he sees us.” 

“The problem is that he’s already seen you.” The man says. “Your ghosts haunt him. His mind is playing the most awful of tricks on him. He won’t be able to differentiate you from his fantasy.” 

“Please,” I beg again. “Please.” 

“We’re not taking ‘no’ for an answer,” Johnny says. 

“Then you’re leaving my hospital.” The man says. 

“You can let us in or we can take down the door.” I threaten. “Laura promised we could see him.” 

“Ms. Kinney is not in charge of-” 

“Let us in or we will take down the door,” I repeat, louder. 

The doctor sighs. “Nurse please make sure the necessary medications are given and that he’s in a less agitated state. I can’t see this going well but… let’s give it a shot.” 

The man nods, leaving the room. 

We wait in the hallway for thirty minutes before someone comes to collect us. 

I don’t look at my surroundings, I don’t look at the faces of the people, I don’t look at anything but Johnny and my feet. 

My own wounds ache as I move. Each step makes me wince as my stitches are pulled. 

I’m also very hungry. I haven’t been able to eat solids in three weeks. 

I’d kill for a cheeseburger right now. 

If I could manage to eat it without being in agonizing pain. 

We’re lucky our own nurse let us come on our own. 

Usually, the woman accompanies us everywhere. 

SHIELD is paying for that. 

I think it’s to keep tabs on us- but Gloria is really nice and funny and very helpful. 

Besides Laura and Gabby, I haven’t talked to the x-men since I kicked Kitty out of my room. 

I know logically not all of them were involved in that decision- but they didn’t stop it. 

I remember Remy trying to get through to her- but…. He didn’t. 

And I know logically that that’s not his fault. 

And logically that I only have half the story.

But I don’t care. They damaged one of the men I love with their thoughtlessness. 

I haven’t been able to see him in three weeks. He’s been locked in a psych ward because he can’t handle what they did to him. What Romulus did to him. 

Romulus has destroyed everything. 

Battles rage on throughout the US. 

Avengers, X-men, X-force, Weapon X (a team they put together not the program)- they’re all fighting. 

The news is filled with death counts. 

An army of Neyaphem marched down the street of a heavily populated Minnesota city- facing off against angels. The destruction of the city was so heavy that it’s been declared a state of emergency. 

Everything’s gone to hell. 

And there’s nothing I want more than to leave this world and stop it. 

X-men got back up from the Shi’ar- so now we’re literally got space aliens fighting alongside mutants. 

The US military shows up to battle the wrong side- in typical human fashion.   
Namor led an army to the surface world and destroyed fifteen ships including five cruise liners. The death toll has been astounding. 

Trade between countries has been stopped entirely. No one can fly because of the angels and no one can ship because of the Atlantians. 

Economies all over the world are suffering. 

The US has entered another Great Depression. 

People are starving and there’s nothing we can do about it. 

Romulus army grows by the day. 

Every city they enter is raised to the ground within twenty-four hours. 

Johnny reaches over and takes my hand- drawing me back to the present. 

The ward is empty. Everyone getting their loved ones released so they can be together for the end of the world. 

I hate to think that it’s only Daken in here by himself. 

He already thinks he doesn’t deserve the kindness of other people. 

They take us to a bare room with padding on the floor. 

God. They have him locked in a padded room. 

The nurse takes out a key ring and unlocks a heavy metal door.

“Daken… you have visitors.” The man says, sweetly at that. “You wanna come see them?” 

He doesn’t move from his spot- curled up on the floor, his arms over his face and his hands on the back of his head- blocking out light and sound. 

His legs have grown back- so that’s good. Physically he looks like he healed up fine. 

He’s thin though. Laura says they can’t get food in him. He refuses to eat because he thinks he doesn’t deserve it. They can’t even get tubes in his mouth for forced feedings. He just lies in his room and starves. 

“This may be a bad idea.” The nurse says. “Maybe another day-” 

I move past him, going to where Daken is laying on the floor and sitting down behind him, taking him into my arms. His whole body quakes. 

I don’t say anything. I don’t have to. 

He holds onto my hands and turns over, putting his face in my chest- I think to hear my heartbeat. “You’re real,” he says quietly. 

“I’m real,” I repeat. 

He holds on tightly. 

Johnny comes and lays on his other side, rubbing a hand over his back. “You’re okay.” He says. “Aren’t you?” 

“You’re…. Not dead?” 

“No sweetie. We’re not dead.” Johnny says. 

“You’re… here?” 

“We’re here.” Johnny kisses his cheek. “See? Warm. Not dead. Not mad. None of it was your fault.” 

“It’s okay,” I say finally, choking up. “It’s okay.” 

I feel his despair. 

“We don’t blame you,” Johnny adds. “And we’re alive. You didn’t do it.” 

He buries himself into my chest- fist balling in my shirt as I hold him tightly. 

“We’re here,” I say running my fingers through his hair. It’s greasy. It’s never greasy. “We want you to come home.” 

He nods. 

“And stay home,” I add. 

He nods again. 

“Everything else will work itself out.”   
I want us to be together. If we’re going to die for real this time- I want it to be in each other’s arms. 

“Can you come home, baby?” Johnny asks. “Can you promise to eat? And not hurt yourself? Will you let us take care of you?” 

He nods. 

“Do you promise not to do anything stupid?” I ask. 

He nods again. 

“We love you so much,” I say, wiping some tears off his cheek. “So, so, so much. We’ve missed you so much.” 

He closes his eyes. 

In a few minutes, he’s asleep. 

I hold him for three hours- ignoring the nurse’s every time they try to get me to leave. 

Laura shows up and signs the paperwork to get him released. 

Apparently, the doctor agreed that even in the short time we were together- we were the best option for him. 

I don’t let go until I know he’s free to come with us. 

He won’t dress. We’re nearly at Thanksgiving and it’s cold outside- but he won’t dress. He wants to leave in his shorts- shirtless and shoeless. 

Laura finally just tells the nurses to drop the subject and that the cold wouldn’t bother him for long. 

We take him out of the hospital and put him in the back of Laura’s car. Johnny and I both sitting on each side of him and helping calm him down every time he starts to freak out. 

We can’t listen to the radio because it’s too loud for him. 

It’s so much different than the first time we all road together. 

So much has changed. 

 

But… I feel good with the two of them back here. 

We go through a section of the city that’s been recently war-torn. 

Large potholes in the road, trees downed- the entire section we go through is without power. 

Daken looks out his window in awe. 

“Things have gotten pretty bad.” Johnny takes his hand. 

He nods. 

“Really bad.” I correct. 

He turns to me. “What do we do?” 

That… shocks me. 

“What do you mean?” I ask. 

“When do we fight? Where do we go? Who’s on our side?” 

“Daken…” Johnny says. “You… want to fight?” 

He’s very still before nodding. “We… can’t let the world end.” 

“Baby-” 

“Give it a week,” Laura says from the front. “If you want to fight in a week- I’ll tell you where to go.”   
“Thank you.” He says. 

She looks into her review. “I’ve put together another team. I would love to have the three of you on it.” 

“Another team?” I ask. “You’re out fighting?” 

She nods. 

“But-” 

“I’m being careful,” I say her put her hand on her rapidly growing stomach. “And I’m doing what I have to do.” 

“Is Gabby on that team?” Daken asks. 

“She is.” 

“Any x-men?” 

Laura is quiet. 

“Laura?” He asks. 

“A few.” She says into the tense air of the car. 

Daken is quiet. 

“I wouldn’t ask you to work with them if it wasn’t dire,” Laura says. “When all is said and done- you don’t have to see them anymore.” 

I close my eyes. 

“Who’s on the team?” I ask. 

“We’ll discuss it in a week.” She says. “In the meantime,” We pull up to the house. “Let’s get Daken inside. He needs a warm shower and some food.” 

As she parks the car, Gloria comes out and waves from the door. 

“Who’s that?” Daken asks, a little scared if we’re being honest. 

“That’s our nurse, Gloria,” Johnny says. “She’s good people. She takes care of our physical therapy, meds, foods, stuff like that.” 

He nods. 

The dark skinned woman comes to the car and opens my door. “Bobby you forgot your meds this morning.” She says, crossing her arms. “And Johnny, you didn’t drink enough of your breakfast.” 

Johnny groans. “I don’t like the chocolate stuff.” 

“Lucky for you, we’ve got Strawberry now.” Gloria smiles. “Daken?” She asks him. “It’s good to see you. I’m Gloria. I’m told it’s time for your meds as well.” 

He nods. 

“And you look like you could use a good shower.” 

He nods again. 

“Let’s get you out of this car and-” 

“We’ll get him out.” I cut her off. 

She smiles. “Okay.” She nods to us and goes back into the house. 

I crawl out of the car and offer Daken my hand. 

He takes it and I stiffly pull him out- it hurts so much but I’m trying to be gentle. 

“Hey, baby,” I say gently as he gets close to my face. 

“Hey,” 

“Come here.” I wrap my arms around him, letting him melt into my embrace. “Stay with me,” I say to him. “Always.” 

“I will.” He says. “I promise.” 

Johnny Joins us and embraces us both. “Week off.” He says. “Then we get back to work.” 

We both nod. 

“I love you both,” he says. “And I’m glad we’re all together again.”   
“I am too,” Daken says. “Being home feels nice.” 

“It’ll feel nicer inside.” I gently run a hand through his greasy hair. “Once you’ve had a bath.” 

He nods. “That would be amazing.” 

Johnny kisses him and then me before letting us go and holding out his hand. 

I let Daken go and take his right hand while Johnny takes his left and leads us into the house. 

It may feel different than it did before- but being them never feels right. It feels, good. I feel safe. I feel rounded. 

I feel… loved. 

I see Daken smile a little- color returning to him as soon as we hit the door. Gabby runs up and hugs him, holding tightly. He returns her hug before letting us take him to the bedroom.


End file.
